Amphora Winery has scaled back on its Pinot Noir production, to focus its attention particularly on Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah. That makes today’s wine even more special. This is one of Amphora’s great Pinots, so don’t miss out.

What a way to introduce our Operatives to Amphora than with today’s exclusive on their delicious Amphora Winery 2013 Russian River Valley Sonoma County Pinot Noir. This Pinot ain’t messin’ around! It is dark, fragrant and expansive on the palate, with a smooth, luscious finish that’ll have you longing for another sip.

This wine is particularly dark for a Pinot Noir, with a garnet hue with a marmalade edge. After a good swish, you’ll find a fragrant nose of black maraschino cherry, rhubarb, pomegranate, and orange-infused chocolate. The palate has nice meatiness and depth typical of a well-constructed Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Flavors of plum, passionfruit, cedar, anise, mocha and graham cracker. This is a medium-heavy body with a fairly expansive mouthfeel that covers the tongue evenly. It’s got a smooth and easy finish to round it out. It’s pizza night, and no-one could agree - so you’ve got 4 different halves. No problem! This versatile wine is the only one you need….

The Russian River Valley AVA in Sonoma County is particularly is known for exceptional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but, with enough sunlight exposure to aid ripening, Zinfandel also grows quite well here. This AVA was officially designated in 1983, but many of the wines in the region used the designation as early as the 1970s (early in California’s wine history) with many of the vines having been first planted in the early 1900s.

Enjoy!