Plums, mocha, cloves, violets and lavender are some of the many notes that meld together in the glass. Mocha, dark red berries, lavender reappear on the finish, adding lift and considerable perfume.
Reviews:
- Vinous: Rivers-Marie’s 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Panek Vineyard is drop-dead gorgeous. Plums, mocha, cloves, violets and lavender are some of the many notes that meld together in the glass. One of the more juicy, expressive wines of the year, the 2011 delivers the goods and then some. This is a fairly immediate Cabernet Sauvignon with tons of early appeal. Mocha, dark red berries, lavender reappear on the finish, adding lift and considerable perfume.
- Wine Enthusiast: Delicious ripe blackberry, cassis, oak, and spice on the nose and silky palate with soft tannins on the long juicy finish
Producer Information
Rivers-Marie is a wine producer based in Calistoga, Napa Valley, but primarily known for its small-production Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. It was founded by husband-and-wife team Thomas Rivers Brown and Genevieve Marie Walsh, and made its first vintage of Pinot Noir in 2002. Rivers-Marie wines are sold exclusively through a mailing list, with annual production ranging from 60 to 600 cases per label. Winemaker Thomas Brown got his start in the wine industry working under Ehren Jordan at Turley Wine Cellars. In 2002, he had the opportunity to purchase fruit from the respected Summa Vineyard, a two-hectare (six-acre) site planted in 1978. Brown purchased the Summa Vineyard outright in 2010 and today produces two single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines from the vineyard, as well as single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines from Occidental Ridge Vineyard, Kanzler Vineyard and Silver Eagle Vineyard. Rivers-Marie began making Chardonnay in 2007, and today makes single-vineyard wines from the Thieriot and Joy Road vineyards, as well as a generic Sonoma Coast cuvée. The winery also makes several Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines, including single-vineyard bottlings from Calistoga, St Helena and Oakville. As well as Rivers-Marie, Brown is involved in numerous winemaking projects across California.
