MacMurray Ranch, Russian River Valley (Sonoma County, California) Pinot Noir 2010

This, the “Reserve” bottling of MacMurray Ranch’s Pinot Noir, screams with ripe bright forward cherry-like flavors. To its credit, for all its ripeness, the winemaking team has avoided transforming it into a super dark “Pinot Syrah” style of wine. At this stage, the nuances that Pinot Noir can deliver are hidden by sweet–almost candied–fruit flavors. Their regular bottling, reviewed previously, delivers far more complexity at this point–and at half the price. The Winemaker’s Block Selection shows that more is not always better.