At Patton Valley we have a tendency to shy away from boastful comments about ourselves and hoisting ourselves up with farflung accolades, preferring to let the wines speak for themselves. That said, this is a special wine, with all of the hallmarks of something that will be remembered with fond wistfulness by those that drink it young, and reverence by those that save it. This is one of our very best and, as such, it gets the name Lorna-Marie. Let’s shout about it for once.
The Lorna-Marie Pinot Noir bottling represents the very best and most complex barrels of any given vintage at our Estate. Named for the mothers of two of our owners, the Lorna-Marie is an annual tribute to their beauty, grace, perseverance, strength, and magic.
We farm our site organically to allow the fruit produced here to thrive without having to choke on chemicals. It is a hands-on approach to farming that keeps us very busy amongst the vines. In the winery we are hands-off, fermenting under native yeasts, and bottling without filtering or fining. This approach gives our site, our fruit, and our resultant wines the singular spotlight.
Always a show stopper, always the crown jewel, this 2017 Lorna Marie is well worth the time we spent waiting for her reveal. The nose is a feast of dense rose, Black Forest Cake, and a bright lift of cranberry compote with baking spices and orange zest. As usual, the palate here goes on and on and reads like a laundry list of wine-tasting superlatives, but let’s go through it anyway. Juicy, bright, and upright throughout, there is a tart, lively streak that runs through the wine while vanilla, rhubarb jam, violet, briar, sandalwood, cherry, cocoa and cream are layered delightfully and expertly. Complex, expressive and surprisingly lithe, this wine should wow and reward for 15+ years.
