Summer Wine List: EnRoute Single-Vineyard Pinot Noir, Pt. 1

As we transition from late spring into early summer, we can’t get enough of our EnRoute Single-Vineyard Pinot Noir from the Amber Ridge Vineyard.

The days are long and warm. The evenings still hold a bit of that late spring chill. It’s the time of year when we want something more textured and complex than the uber-crisp white wines and rosés that are “trending” this season. We want something vibrant, that can be enjoyed slightly chilled, yet that also holds up to the glazed, double-cut pork chops we’re serving out on the back porch.

That brings us to our EnRoute Single-Vineyard Pinot Noir from one of our most pedigreed sites: the Amber Ridge Vineyard. The wine’s unmistakably juicy, ripe cherry core, along with the presence of soft but pronounced tannins, makes this one of our favorite spring-to-summer transition wines (as well as the ultimate Father’s Day Pinot!).

Read on to learn more about this remarkable Russian River Valley vineyard and wine:

The Vineyard

Stretching across a corner of the Northern Russian River Valley’s upper Middle Reach area, the Amber Ridge Vineyard was one of the first vineyards we purchased when we launched EnRoute in 2007. This sloping 22-acre vineyard consists of a unique soil series called Huichica, a mix of clays, sedimentary rock and sandy volcanic ash. The fog recedes to the coast early each morning and roll back in from the south late in the afternoon. The five clones planted across our vineyard blocks - Pommard 5, Calera and Dijon clones 115, 667 and 777 – consistently gives us ripe, dark fruit with wild berry notes and a dense midpalate.

The Wine

The majority of fruit from the Amber Ridge Vineyard provides the foundation for our flagship Russian River Valley Pinot, the EnRoute “Les Pommiers.” Starting with the 2013 vintage, however, we decided to bottle a small barrel selection from Amber Ridge as a Single-Vineyard Pinot Noir. As a stand-alone bottling, our EnRoute Amber Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir balances powerful fruit with bright acidity, along with mouth-pleasing notes of Bing cherry.

During these early summer months, we love to serve it on the cooler side (56-59 degrees) to show off its gorgeous juicy fruit.

The Menu Options

As for food and wine pairings, grilled pork chops, duck and other game birds are the most obvious options. Grilled mushrooms, mushroom burgers and even hearty grilled veggies like sweet potatoes are also fun menu items for this textured Russian River Pinot. So cue the weekend playlist, channel your inner grill master and pull the cork on something vibrant, red and totally palate pleasing!

Learn more about our Amber Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir here, and check back with us in a few weeks, to learn which wine we turn to when temperatures really start to climb!