96
Steve Heimoff - steveheimoff.com
"A very fine Rosella’s, which is to say, a very fine Pinot Noir! Great structure, with a mouthwatering hit of acidity highlighting deliciously complex flavors of raspberries, red cherries and persimmons. At the same time, there’s a grounding earthiness that reminds me of Portobello mushrooms, oiled and grilled: a savory umami thing. There’s a leatheriness that comes through the tannins but also a beef jerky note that brings additional umani-ness. The more I taste this wine, the more impressive it gets. Wildly tasty. As with the rest of Loring’s ‘14s, it’s super-young, but one of the few that is absolutely compelling now, although if I had a case, I’d drink a bottle or two a year through the early 2020s."
93 Pinot Report
"Medium-deep ruby color; complex aromas of cherry liqueur, raspberry and truffles; expressive and bold dark berry flavors with a velvety texture; good structure and balance; long finish. Bold and expressive Pinot with a lot to like."
91-92 Josh Raynolds - Vinous Media
"Brilliant ruby. Deeply pitched black raspberry and boysenberry aromas are lifted by notes of fresh rose and smoky minerals. Silky and sweet on the palate, offering intense red and dark berry flavors that become livelier
with aeration. Combines richness and vivacity smoothly and closes with excellent clarity, slow-building tannins and very good persistence."
92 Jeb Dunnuck - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"Called the best vintage since 2010 by Brian, the 2014 vintage was the third straight vintage featuring big crops, good hang time and no heat spikes. The 2014 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard is a plush, surprisingly ripe, even voluptuous effort that offers tons of black fruits, bramble and licorice. While Rosella's Vineyard normally yields a fresher, more acid-driven style, this beauty has some serious fruit and richness."
92 Wine Enthusiast
"Ripe red cherries and red currants provide the fruit scents for the savory smoked pork and sanguine raw-beef qualities that power the nose on this single-vineyard bottling. Those bloody meats mix with elderberry, ripe red plum, lavender and allspice once sipped, proving complex and tangy but with lingering dark-fruit flavors."
Brian Loring's wines have been gaining in elegance for the last few years, mainly because he has reduced his use of new oak to an average of about 25% across the board. A big reason for that approach is the fact that many of the vineyards he works with (and his sourcing has been very consistent since his first commercial vintage in 2000) now have mature vines and "bring their own structure." He believes that this makes the tannins delivered by new oak not only less necessary "but a distraction from the fruit, and fruit is what my wines are all about." So fans of Loring's full-throttle, fruit-driven style needn't worry that he's made a dramatic 180-degree turnaround from the kind of wines that made the winery successful." Nor has he altered his goal of making wines that drink best on the young side, although he does believe that they also have the depth of fruit to ensure that "they don't fall apart after just a few years."
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