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Domaine Della feels beyond grateful for receiving such critical acclaim from the wine media for all of our wines over the years.
We are pleased to share with you some of our scores and excerpts from a few of our favorite reviews. We hope you enjoy some of their thoughts and tasting notes regarding our wines.
For tasting notes from our winemaker and technical information regarding individual wines, visit our Acquire page and select a wine.
Learn more about what the wine media has had to say about each of our wines below:
Appellation Wines
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
Single Vineyard Wines
“Ritchie Vineyard” Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
“Graham Family Vineyard” Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
“Earl Stephens Vineyard” Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
“Terra de Promissio Vineyard” Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
“Soberanes Vineyard” Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
Special Blend Wines
The Sonoma Coast Appellation Chardonnay is released during our Spring Release offering beginning in January.
This white opens in a rich, beautiful nose of creme brûlée, honeycomb and a light lift of pear, delving into a crisp core of complexity and structure midway through. Layered and well-balanced in oak, fruit and acidity, it is a gorgeous expression of the coast. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
The 2018 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast spent 15 months in 30% new French oak. It’s pure class, offering bright citrus and pineapple fruit as well as lots of white flowers, salty minerality, and just a touch of background oak. With racy acidity, beautiful purity and richness, and a big finish, this pure, balanced, awesome Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is going to keep for 10-15 years.
The Russian River Valley Appellation Pinot Noir is released during our Spring Release offering beginning in January.
Brimming in strawberry, cola and a lightness of baking spice, this is a creamy and lush expression of the appellation, with complex layers of bright acidity. The lift and balance is accented in savory hints of black tea and clove. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
The 2019 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley has more floral aromas, with sweet cedar, ripe raspberry, and baking spice. The palate has beautiful concentration and fresh fruit that surges through to a long finish with a tangerine note. Hold 1-2 years and drink over the following 8-10 years.
The Santa Lucia Highlands Appellation Pinot Noir is released during our Spring Release offering beginning in January.
With a tart, tangy entry of crisp red and blue fruit, the wine is pillowy on the palate, with sublime texture and a lift of acidity. Lengthy, bright and lightly spiced, it offers a complete picture of this great coastal appellation. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
Pale to medium ruby, the 2016 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is youthfully subdued on the nose, opening to pomegranate, Bing cherry, warm red berries and pretty dried flowers with dusty earth, autumn leaves and spicy touches. Light to medium-bodied, it features wonderfully ripe, spicy red fruit in the mouth with soft, grainy tannins and lovely sweet spice on the finish.
The Santa Lucia Highlands Appellation Pinot Noir is released during our Spring Release offering beginning in January.
Layered, gritty and grippy, this wine is defined by a savory earthiness that persists over ongoing acidity. Rose petal, rhubarb and baking spice accent an intensely built, well-structured and highly age-worthy expression of the variety from this appellation. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
Potent aromas of dark cherry, star anise and oak-powered crème brûlée show on the nose of this appellation blend. A grippy texture frames the palate, where plum-skin and crushed berry flavors add an edge to the richer black-cherry and cardamom tones. – 2019 Vintage
The “Ritchie Vineyard” Single Vineyard Designate Chardonnay is released during our Summer Release offering beginning in May.
This wine hits every note, impressing in its cohesive grasp of balance and savory complexion. Baking spice and butter express themselves on the nose as a breadth of stone fruit, baked apple and pear present midpalate. Length, breadth and enduring freshness give it an undeniable imprint of excellence. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
The vineyard designate, the 2018 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is largely in the same mold, although it was brought up in slightly less new oak (25%) and is just a touch lower in alcohol and higher in acidity. Despite those technical details, it’s richer and more opulent (which is why you shouldn’t judge a wine by numbers) and offers beautiful stone fruits, toasted brioche, honeysuckle, and white flower aromas and flavors. As with the straight Sonoma, it’s pure, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and has a great, great finish. This is another stunningly good Chardonnay from this estate to enjoy over the coming 7-8 years.
The “Graham Family Vineyard” Single Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir is released during our Summer Release offering beginning in May.
Voluptuously full-bodied and generous in supple tannin, this wine is tart in crunchy red fruit, a mix of rhubarb and pomegranate. Plenty of depth and breadth abound, making for a plush, pleasing experience that impresses from beginning to end. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
Brimming in dark cherry and baking spice, this wine also reveals underlying bursts of blood orange, tangerine and grapefruit. Lengthy and expansive on the palate, it offers resolved tannins and a smooth, healthy relationship with oak.
Buoyant mouthfeel, pillowy and resilient, with a savory aspect. Black plum, sandalwood, and soy sauce extends salinity along with deep base notes of forest floor. The espresso-black cherry finish is long and satisfying.
The “Earl Stephens Vineyard” Single Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir is released during our Summer Release offering beginning in May.
Ripe cherry, raspberry and kirsch notes form the core, which stays focused and energetic thanks to a spine of acidity running underneath. Singed apple wood and red licorice accents frame the finish as the fruit ripples on. Drink now through 2034. – James Molesworth
Whiffs of pine needles and mint leaves top this full-bodied and moderately tannic wine, as good fruit acidity and snappy red and black cherry flavors make the mouth water. Aged in 55% new French oak, nicely structured and well balanced, it could pair beautifully with a roast duck breast. – 2021 Vintage, Jim Gordon
This Della Earl Stephens Vineyard Pinot 2018 is an exceptional experience that sumptuous Pinot enthusiasts are going to adore. The flashy bouquet displays stunning aromas of violets, creme de cassis, cherries, and Christmas spices. A tour de force, this exquisite Pinot Noir flaunts silky waves of dark berries, black plum, oolong tea, cranberry, hints of creamy oak and then culminates in a 40 second finish. Enjoy the thrill ride anytime through 2027+. Decanting recommended prior to 2022.
The “Terra de Promissio Vineyard” Single Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir is released during our Summer Release offering beginning in May.
Cherries dipped in maple syrup are creamy and dense, followed by milk chocolate cedar. A hint of toast, mint, and white pepper are unique and unfold gracefully thanks to supple tannins and a balanced acid structure. – 2022 Vintage, Meredith May
Aromatic in forest floor, turned earth and stem, this is a rich, full-bodied and softly layered vineyard-designate that is concentrated in dark, brooding notes of berry and plum. Inviting elements of dark chocolate and graham cracker play at the edges before a bright finish emphasizes the wine’s overall balance. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
Here, again, is an altogether sublime Pinot Noir from Domaine Della that combines fruity richness and impeccable balance. It leads with an intense, wonderfully layered nose of perfectly ripe cherries and mildly toasty oak that shows off the fruity purity and succulence inherent in top-tier Pinots, and, like the best of its cellarmates, it manages to be rich and sophisticated at the same time. It is ripe to be sure, but it wears its ripeness with a considerable sense of grace even now. It is both full and quite lively with an amazingly long finish, and, despite being immensely satisfying at present, can be cellared with complete confidence for eight to ten years. (2019 Vintage)
The “Soberanes Vineyard” Single Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir is released during our Fall Release offering beginning in August.
This delicious wine is rich, spiced and fruity in dark cherry, with shocks of cardamom and clove that make it instantly interesting. Lengthy and generous, it has a tremendous midpalate, showing great intensity, with an equal amount of length on the finish. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
There’s a brilliant combination of fresh, juicy raspberry and a struck-stone minerality on the nose of this bottling. The palate surrounds a core of juicy strawberry and pomegranate fruit, with ample layers of peppery, thyme and acidity driving it home. – 2022 Vintage, Matt Kettman
Plummy aromas with notes of vanilla, tobacco and rosemary as well. Full-bodied with well-integrated tannins. Bright and fresh at first, but turns more savory, with chocolate and bark notes coming out more and more. Drink now.
The “4 Amours” Special Blend Pinot Noir is released during our Fall Release offering beginning in August.
This 2018 edition of Della’s best-barrel reserve Pinot is an exceptional experience that sumptuous Pinot enthusiasts are going to adore. The flashy bouquet displays with intense notes of Morello cherries, rhubarb, raspberry pie, and Christmas spices. A tour de force, this exquisite Pinot Noir flaunts silky smooth waves of monumentally delicious dark berries, black plum, oolong tea, cranberry, hints of vanilla oak and then culminates in a 40 second finish. Worthy of 98 points now and well on the path towards 99 points over the next 3 – 5 years. Enjoy through 2027+. Decanting recommended prior to 2024.
Opens with boysenberry and Mediterranean scrub aromas. Savory and spicy, while bright acidity lights it up from within. Clove, red tea, rosemary, Morello cherries, and red beets converge in a maelstrom of flavors. Finishes with a wash of cinnamon toast and wild strawberries. – 2022 Vintage, Meredith May
This delicious wine is rich, spiced and fruity in dark cherry, with shocks of cardamom and clove that make it instantly interesting. Lengthy and generous, it has a tremendous midpalate, showing great intensity, with an equal amount of length on the finish. – 2021 Vintage, Virginie Boone
The star of an absolutely stunning line-up of lovely Pinots from Domaine Della, this small-lot bottling from four specially chosen barrels is a study in sophistication that is as polished as it is deep in beautifully stated fruit. Both solid and slightly supple and a wine that, albeit amazingly expressive now, is constructed to age famously for a decade or more, it is a tour de force offering of dazzling depth, great reserve and uncommon grace. It is a Pinot that belongs on the shopping lists of fastidious, hard-to-satisfy collectors of the very best California offerings, whatever search that its finding might require. (2019 Vintage)
This special bottling is grippy, complex and intense, exhibiting tense acidity that helps to tame the wild raspberry and cassis flavors. The tannins are seamless yet firm, as well as sizable, while the oak brings accents of baking spice, cola and dried herb. (2019 Vintage)
The most expensive Pinot Noir in the lineup, the 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 4 Amours is a cellar selection of four barrels, with the blend ultimately spending 15 months in 52% new French oak. Lots of framboise, candied cherries, wildflowers, and violet notes all emerge from the glass, and it’s beautifully textured and medium to full-bodied, with no hard edges and ripe yet present tannins. Coming all from the Sonoma Coast, this beautiful, powerful Pinot Noir will drink well for 4-6 years.
A deeper shade of magenta, the 2022 Pinot Noir 4 Amours is more introspective and concentrated on opening and slowly starts to reveal itself in the glass with notes of black raspberries, licorice candies, pine, and forest herbs. The palate offers a lovely feel, with even, ripe tannins, harmonious freshness, and a seamless feel with a very ripe finish. It has a lot of charm and is very well done. Drink 2025-2035.
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