2010 Alexana Pinot Noir Signature

A faintly dusty, smoky note hangs over the scents of sweetly ripe, brown-spiced cherry and strawberry in Alexana’s 2010 Pinot Noir Revana Vineyard Signature, a bottling representing a selection of the best lots on the winery’s estate vineyard. Along with continued smoky pungency, a saliva-inducing saline streak runs through this plush, forwardly fruity Pinot, adding both variety and next-sip inducement to its protracted finish. This should drink well for at least 4-6 years. I tasted the formidably priced recent releases of Dr. Madaiah Revana’s six-year-old, Dundee Hills Alexana project (named for his daughter, and with its 56 acres of vines located on Warden Hill) in the company of Lynn Penner-Ash, who has been overseeing vinification at her facility. (The Revana Family Vineyard in Napa relied until last year on a similar collaboration with Heidi Peterson Barrett.) For the impending harvest, this estate will operate out of its own new facility and Penner-Ash says her involvement will become “less hands-on.” Tel. (503) 554-5545