Today’s wine is very highly recommended!

We have a real treat for you, today! Today’s Spell Estate 2015 Alder Springs Vineyard Mendocino County Pinot Noir is beautifully balanced, and incredibly delicious, with an intriguing dynamic finish that will delight and surprise you. If you want to serve an impressive Pinot Noir, you’ve found it in this great wine.

The nose is, in a word, balanced. This lovely Pinot strikes a perfect balance on the nose, with aromas of fruits, spice, and earthen elements. Aromas of black cherry preserve, cassis, plum, mission fig, spice, wild mushroom, summer forest floor, coffee bean, and cracked earth. On the palate, plush and supple on entry, then very rapidly drying with a dynamic, mouthwatering conclusion that leaves the flavors intact all across the fried palate.

You probably know Alder Springs Vineyard from our past sales. The fabled grower of what is arguably the most coveted Mendocino fruit, Alder Springs has historically sold its fruit to the likes of Copain, Patz & Hall, Sojourn, Behrens Family Winery, Arnot-Roberts, and of course to Spell Estate, who crafted one of the finest Pinots we’ve ever tasted from any Mendocino vineyard. And that is high praise indeed!

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Here’s what the wine press has to say:

92 Points - Wine and Spirits Magazine - “From Stuart Bewley’s meticulously farmed vineyard in the rugged hills near Laytonville, this is warm and brawny in the best sense, with explosive red cherry fruit and savory hints of tomato leaf and tobacco. The tannins are firm and mountainous, balanced by an enveloping, almost Grenache-like succulence. It’s gutsy enough to handle braised goat shanks.”

91 Points - Owen Bargreen, International Wine Report - ”Set roughly ten miles from the Pacific Ocean, the Alder Springs Vineyard has a range of Pinot Noir clones planted including Dijon clones 115, 667, 777, 459, DRC selection and Calera selection. This wine begins with aromas of black forest cake, strawberry, guava puree and suggestions of orange zest. There are ripe flavors of strawberry, guava, pomegranate, lemon rind and blood orange. This shows a lovely minerality and light tannic backbone as it is another outstanding Pinot Noir made by Spell Estate head winemaker Andrew Berge.”