1997 Kistler "Kistler Vineyard" Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

1997 Kistler "Kistler Vineyard" Russian River Valley Pinot Noir SKU #940180

Price: $129.99

RP 94-96

ST 90

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Professional Reviews

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
94-96
The 1997 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard (500 cases) is made from the Dijon clone 777, and two California clones, Pommard and Calera. It boasts a dense, saturated dark ruby/purple color, as well as an exceptionally sweet nose of roasted herbs and black cherry jam intermixed with raspberries, truffles, and toasty oak. Sweet and expansive, this full-bodied wine possesses fabulous concentration and purity, a grand cru-like level of potential complexity, and a 30+-second finish. It must be tasted to be believed. Look for this wine to be drinkable upon release, and last for at least a decade. This wine is among of the most spectacular Pinot Noirs I have ever tasted. (RP)

(12/1998)
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
90
Deep red-ruby color. Sappy, floral aromas of crushed red fruits, cola, bitter chocolate and pungent oak. Concentrated, clean and deep on the palate; a substantial, rich wine whose new oak scents currently mute its flamboyant raspberry and cherry flavors. I'd be a bit more confident about the future of this bottle if the oak had not turned a bit tarry with aeration. (ST)

(05/2000)

K&L Notes

Rare and highly collectable! Kistler's low-yielding (less than two tons per acre), dry farmed Pinot Noir vineyard in the Russian River Valley contains a mix of clones from French and American sources. The vinification of this Pinot Noir begins with an extended cold maceration of the grapes with their juice (for the extraction of flavors without tannin), followed by a traditional fermentation with 50-100% stem inclusion. Total cuvaison time is up to four weeks and the wine is aged in 100% new French oak barrels for 18 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.