Fenn Valley Vineyards

Although labeled ‘Lake Michigan Shore AVA’ for marketing visibility, this Pinot Noir is actually 100 percent Fennville AVA from Fenn Valley’s estate vineyards. Fenn Valley's first plantings of Pinot Noir date back to 1988. Since then, winemaker for his family's winery, Doug Welsch, has planted Dijon clones 667, 777, 114 and 115. Together they make a more complete and rounded wine with multiple nuances.

As many domestic Pinot Noir producers have discovered, Dijon clones bring bright cherry aromas and flavors to a bottling, along with significant enhancement in wine quality, denser, richer flavors and perhaps most important, physiological maturity at lower sugars. In a region with a short growing season, this is an important factor in a wine's ultimate flavor and finish.

Fenn Valley's 2005 Pinot Noir bottling scores with ruby color, aromas of cherries, raspberries, dried rose petals and forest floor dried leaves. Cherry and raspberry flavors are complemented by vanilla in a medium-bodied wine with substantial length and balanced acid. Pair it with duck breast and a chipotle-cherry sauce, grilled wild-caught salmon or roast chicken with a fragrant spice blend.

Reviewed February 27, 2007 by Eleanor & Ray Heald.