2017 Hartford Court Pinot Noir Mac Lean's Block

Named for Don & Jennifer Hartford's son MacLean and from a vineyard located east of the town of Occidental, the 2017 Pinot Noir Maclean's Block spent 17 months in 38% new French oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Spiced cherries, mulberries, dried flowers, black tea, and some forest floor/autumn leaf notes all emerge from the glass, and it's one of the plumper, more sweetly fruited, and slightly straightforward wines in the lineup. Nevertheless, it brings the fruit and texture and is a textbook Russian River Pinot Noir.

The 2017 Pinot Noir MacLean's Block is a powerful, heady wine. Exotic spice, blood orange, mint, cedar and new leather infuse the 2017 with quite a bit of character. The aromatics are especially deeply-pitched. Then again, the MacLean's Block is one of the wines in this range that gets a dollop of whole clusters.

Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir MacLean's Block gives up exuberant baked black cherries, warm raspberries and cranberry sauce scents plus suggestions of cinnamon stick, cloves, lavender and incense. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is completely filled with black and red berries plus loads of earthy accents and a finely grained texture, finishing long and layered. 298 cases were made.