TN: 2017 Rivers-Marie Summa Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

WINE TALK
#1

While I still believe the 2017 Platt is the best wine the winery has ever made, this 2017 Summa still delivers a lot of joy. Raspberry, red apple, and some jammy joyful quality along with good tang and structure. Really looking forward to my 2018s arriving this week and putting those into the cellar. Thanks for reading.

  • 2017 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (3/22/2020)
    I opened this and allowed some air to impact the wine, to loosen it up. It helped. AGELVIS has a good note below (in CT), and for me nails the markers in the wine very well. There is some pinot funk in the aromatic, too. Tangy, earthy cherry, citrus, some pine needle and a moderate weight. Listed at 13.6% and I’d say it drinks pretty well to that #. Will have 1/2 bottle for tomorrow to taste again so more to be added to my TN here…a final update with the wine being open for a full day. The fruit in the wine has shifted from cherry to dark raspberry, adding some depth too, with the palate filling out nicely. The fruit has added a cool red apple note, along with a jammy quality and it has maintained the tangy edges from yesterday. And even with the extra air, allowing the wine to fan out, the structure is still here so from my POV, this has aging potential and some time to develop further. Very good.

Posted from CellarTracker

#2

I think even the Sonoma Coast bottling improves with a few years age. I don’t have a
long enough tasting history on these wines to be definitive, but I would guess five years might be good for the Summa. Your thoughts?

#3

Bill, thanks for dropping in for the reply.

I have aged only my Summa Old Vine, and have largely drank through most of my other RM wines within a few years. The fruit/acid combination has always seemed to intrigue me at a younger age and so the corks come out of those bottles regularly. But, with what I have seen in the recent Platt bottling, and also what I perceive to be a maturation of the RM plots, along with a shift downwards in ABVs, my hunch is that the premise of aging the wines may be a good idea.

#4

For me, more like eight years… Summa 2012 is really singing today. For more recent releases, maybe even more.

#5

Nice note. Had similar taste experiences a few weeks ago with the '14 SOV. William makes a good point that 8 years is a sweet spot because I thought I pulled the '14 a bit early. I have a few more so will revisit in a few years.

#6

I try to drink my SC bottlings before the next shipment comes. They will certainly hold but I think the fresh fruit that makes them really shine is best within a year or so.

I always lay down the Old Vines. They are for a 6-12 year window.

The Occidental seems variable. It used to be a quick drinker for me but I think some more recent tastes have shown better structure and less flashy fruit.

Also my recent taste of the regular Summa at Falltacular showed a wine much more in line with the OV bottling. More reserved, displaying nice acidic structure. Those vines are probably starting to mature. I’d be more inclined to let those rest now as well.

#7

i’m still sitting on 3 btls of summa, 3 btls of OV summa from back to 2007. Time to open some lol

#8

Frank: As usual thanks for the great note. You and William are enticing me to open a 2012 this week…

#9

The 07 OV has a fantastic nose. I’d get in there though. I’m not sure the palate is going to go real long.

#10

Charlie, the 2007s seem to be aging well, but as you may already know, this was a bigger vintage so the wines do show a jammer quality IMO. Here is my last TN on the OV from last year.

  • 2007 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Old Vines Summa - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (6/6/2019)
    Weeknight Wines Blind: Served blind next to 2 other US Pinot Noirs (which also happened to be other vintages of Summa OV) and one Burgundy (also blind). I had this same vintage just about one year ago and the wine tastes pretty identical to that previous note. Has the cloudy look, the orange rind, jammy strawberry (I suspect the vintage coming through) and some earth. This is continuing to age well, and despite the riper vintage as its base, there is nothing tired here so keep on aging some more if you like.

Posted from CellarTracker

Gus, half the TN helped add to the picture. I’ve been moving through the bottle slowly since Sunday and poured yet another glass tonight. This is really a great bottle of CA PN. Packed with flavor, yet structure to help it along. The acidity has remained in the bottle over the past 3 days too. Gonna finish the rest of it tonight, and it’s been delicious. Open a 2012 and let me know what you find.

#11

Will do…but have a few choices to pick from in this vintage - OV, Summa, Gioia, Silver Eagle, Kanzler and Occidental Ridge. I had the OV last year and thought it was great…