I briefly met both of the men whose names appear on these bottles, many decades ago. They were pioneers, I liked them both, and they made a strong impression on me. The wines I tasted today were good, but sadly did not make the same impressions.
2009 Rodney Strong RRV PN - Restrained fresh red cherry aromas. Ripe and balanced on the palate with some strawberry to go with the cherry flavors, all red fruit, no earth or mineral. Polite and correct but lacking in intensity and cut. A good wine but nothing more. Rated 84.45, drink up.
2010 Davis Bynum RRV PN - A good step up for aromatic intensity, also red cherries but with the nice addition of some black fruit and earthiness to add depth. Slightly richer, not riper on the palate with more black fruit, less red, and minerality rather than earth. This is a step up from the previous, with some depth and subtlety. But that is compared to a very basic RRV PN. This is better than a good wine but lacks the intensity and density I expect from fine RRV PN. Rated 87.55, should improve a point or so over the next few years.
I had a bottle of the 2013 Davis Bynum ‘Jane’s Vineyard’ PN [Russian River Valley] over a couple days this weekend. It’s a light rose red in hue although it carries 14.5% abv. It feels lighter though. The label is quite descriptive, giving harvest info (at night!) and the clonal selection, elevage etc. It seems to have gotten a good dose of French oak, but it has absorbed it well, and I didn’t find it over the top. For a wine that is supposed to be on the bigger side, I thought it was balanced, and went well by itself, or with food. It wasn’t awesome or anything, but it was satisfying, and that is pretty what I consistently get with RRV PN’s so I don’t feel the need to stray much beyond that. We visited their new (sort of) owners Rodney Strong Vineyards some years ago, and tried a few D-B bottlings there, so this brought back memories of that visit. I’d give this a B+ or A-.
I agree with their notes they provide on their comprehensive tech sheet. I had not realized Dave Ramey was involved here, which would explain why I like it.