2017 DuMol Pinot Noir Wester Reach Russian River Valley 750 ml

The 96-point 2017 DuMOL Wester Reach Pinot Noir Russian River Valley didn’t just convince us that our allocation of DuMOL was well worth the three-year wait. It also took us back to one of the most powerful first impressions we’ve ever had in wine.  

It was nearly a decade ago, as California Pinot Noir was reaching the height of its fame. Sommeliers everywhere were scrambling to stock Russian River icons like Williams Selyem and Kosta Browne—and tired of tasting the imitators that wine reps were parading in day after day. 

From our perches in retail, restaurants, and hotels we were growing increasingly frustrated (and a bit embarrassed) as more and more of our guests requested top-tier Pinot Noir—and we had little to offer them. Sure, there was always high-end Burgundy on the list, but nothing that married that Grand Cru quality and the California opulence.

Enter DuMOL.

What we experienced with our first magical sips all those years ago is precisely what we relived with the 2017 Wester Reach: brooding dark fruit aromas, a pure and intense palate tinged with mineral and spice, and the combination of body, breadth, and finish that makes a sip seem to last for minutes. 

Now, DuMOL’s reputation has grown, which is why we had to work for three years to score the wines that simply wandered into my life a decade ago (granted, we do sell a bit more wine than the Hermitage Hotel). The winery’s renown is built on the work they’ve been doing in Sonoma County for over two decades now, and on the expertise of longtime winemaker Andy Smith. Under Smith, according to Wine Spectator, DuMOL has “mastered” every grape they’ve encountered. And Pinot Noir is their calling card. 

The 96-point 2017 represents DuMOL’s second-ever Wester Reach bottling, and it shows the coastal character of Russian River Valley through four of DuMOL’s top vineyards: the east-facing DuMOL O’Connell Estate Vineyard, whose shallow soils just ten miles from the Pacific provide great intensity and freshness; the steep Dutton Upp Road Vineyard, which supplies fascinating complexity; the old-vine, dry-farmed Widdoes Vineyard in the Green Valley AVA, a site that has supplied DuMOL with gorgeous spiced Pinot since their inaugural 1996 vintage; and the Occidental Road Vineyard, whose rich clay soils supply Pinot Noir of depth and density.

The result is nothing less than stirring. We hope this wine brings you profound pleasure, not only in the Pinot itself, but in what we have always relished: that moment when you bring out a bottle for a soon-to-be believer and, before pouring the first sip, ask, “Have you had DuMOL?”