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2012 Starr Ridge Pinot
Russian River Valley
Starr Ridge

The Starr Ridge Vineyard, owned by our close friends the Baker Family, is the warmest of our Pinot Noir sites. Being north of the transition where the Russian River turns west toward the Pacific Ocean, it has a more diffused nature to the fog and reaches temperatures a couple of degrees above those of our own Soul Patch vineyard most days. It's a very slight difference but added up over the 240-day growing season, it is just enough to give a unique and luscious mid-palate and darker red fruits than the other single vineyard bottlings of Pinot Noir that we produce.

Awards and Accolades

2014 San Francisco International Wine Competition - Gold
Prince of Pinot - 92 pts.
San Francisco International Wine Competition - Gold Medal
Wine Enthusiast - 92 pts., Top Napa & Sonoma Pinots
San Francisco Chronicle - Gold Medal
Affairs of the Vine Pinot Shootout - Gold Medal


Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar - 91 Points
"Bright ruby-red. Sexy, spice-tinged aromas of cherry, black raspberry and vanilla, with a subtle floral note building in the glass. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering juicy red and dark berry flavors and a touch of spicecake. Shows very soft tannins on a silky finish that prolongs the spice and dark berry notes. Drinking very nicely already, with no rough edges."



In the Vineyard:
Starr Ridge Vineyard is a 20 year old vineyard in the Windsor Hills subregion of the Russian River Valley. The soils are from the ancient Franciscan series, with heavier decomposing volcanic rock and clays rich in iron. The Pinot Noir from this site achieves "the best of both worlds" – great richness from the site's warmer location, and a sensual finesse due to the cooler, eastern facing exposure.

In the Winery:
At Davis Family Vineyards we strive to highlight the unique characteristics that make fruit from each vineyard, from each varied mico-climate, so very special and unique. All of our Pinot Noir is aged in French oak for 10 months. 1/3 of the barrels are new, 1/3 are one year old, and 1/3 are 2 year old. In doing so, we are able to benefit from the finesse and structure of barrel aging, while not overwhelming the varietal characteristics of Pinot Noir.

Guy tastes through and then hand selects his favorite barrels for the single vineyard bottling of the Starr Ridge Pinot Noir. The remaining barrels are then used in our Russian River Valley blend.

The fermentation was conducted using native yeast in small, temperature controlled, open top fermentors. Gentle punch downs were done over a 3-4 week fermentation, after a 5-7 day cold soak. The Pinot is then pressed and transferred directly into barrel, using gravity flow.