Cristom Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir (375ML half-bottle) 2016

Professional Ratings

• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Medium ruby colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard is a touch reticent on the nose, opening to broody scents of black cherries and licorice with notes of herbs, bergamot and grated baking spice with earthy touches of soil and wet leaves. Medium to full-bodied and wonderfully silky in the mouth, it's packed with layers of ripe fruit, spice and earth. It gives fine, firm tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing very long and very layered. This is wonderfully complex with loads of layers—give it some time in bottle to show its best.

  Rating: 95(+?)

• 94 James Suckling

  There’s a sense of resolve from the get-go here with very pure red and darker cherries making a youthful impression. The palate has a succulent and finely detailed array of well-judged tannins that frame the finish very neatly. Good depth and detail here.

• 93 Wine & Spirits

  The 2016 Jessie comes from Cristom’s steepest vineyard, an east-facing slope planted in 1994. It’s so attractive that, at first, you may miss its complexity. Sure, it has the Earl Grey tea character that’s typical of the winery’s whole-cluster style, but it’s surrounded by a bright dark-berry flavor, gentle and clean, lightly propelled by savory spice.

• 92 Wine Spectator

  Deeply structured, yet elegant, with dark berry, stony mineral and black tea flavors that build richness and torque toward refined tannins.

• 91 Wine Enthusiast

  This is an excellent year for this east-facing block, with bright blackberry and cherry fruit anchored in firm tannins. There's a scent and flavor of chicken stock. Half was whole cluster fermented, and the wine spent 18 months in three-fifths new French oak.