EnRoute Winery Les Pommiers Pinot Noir 2018
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Rich, with an enveloping viscosity to the flavors of dark currant, plum tart and cherry pastry. Graphite and hot stone notes emerge midpalate, with dark chocolate details and hints of pepper on the finish. Drink now through 2025.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 EnRoute Pinot Noir Les Pommiers offers timeless energy from the Russian River Valley. TASTING NOTES: This wine tantalizes with aromas and flavors of bright red fruit, accents of spice, and a note of minerality. Pair it with grilled salmon with a side of wild mushrooms. (Tasted: September 3, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
-
Wine Enthusiast
This wine is thick and rich, with an earthy, stemmy quality that intrigues. The full-bodied palate offers ripe strawberry and cherry flavors, with a savory edge of tea and forest floor that persists.
Other Vintages
2022-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
James
Suckling
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast
EnRoute was established in the Russian River Valley in 2007 by the partners of Napa Valley’s Far Niente winery. Devoted to producing Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, EnRoute introduced its first wine, “Les Pommiers,” in May 2009. Les Pommiers is named for the apple orchards that once flourished in the region, and reflects a blend of vineyards primarily from Green Valley and the upper Middle Reach area of the Russian River Valley AVA.
The name, EnRoute, is a nod to the journey the partners—including Beth Nickel, Erik Nickel, Jeremy Nickel, Dirk Hampson and Larry Maguire—have taken on their way to producing Pinot Noir, which began in the 1980s in Burgundy. While Far Niente’s vision is exclusively focused on Napa Valley Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, the partners still enjoyed traveling and tasting the great Pinot Noirs of the world. Eventually, sister winery Nickel & Nickel’s single-vineyard program provided the opportunity to venture into the Russian River Valley. After a few years of producing wines from Russian River, the partners decided to make a serious commitment to the region, acquired two remarkable vineyards and established EnRoute, devoted to Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.