Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Avni 2017 (750ML)

93 W&S / 92 VM / 92 WE / 91 WS

"Avni is built around Larry Stone’s estate vineyard in the Eola Hills, and supplemented by similar sites. Even though it’s Stone’s entrylevel wine, it’s not simple; instead it reflects the shallow soils of the Eola–Amity Hills in all their mineral tension: The wine is bright and tightly packed, weaving rose-petal notes and whole-cluster spice with dark plum-skin flavors. It sustains a lovely vibrancy of flavor, grounded and direct." - Wine and Spirits

Limpid ruby-red. Spice-accented red berries, candied flowers and exotic spices on the highly fragrant nose. A spine of juicy acidity supports spice-tinged raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors, and a minerally nuance emerges with air. Turns sweeter on the impressively persistent finish, which is framed by fine-grained, slow-mounting tannins. 25% whole clusters and 22% new oak. - Josh Raynolds, Vinous Media

"This wine opens with lovely scents of cranberry and raspberry. Those juicy, fresh flavors follow to a lightly spicy, medium-bodied palate with a gentle hint of cholocate. It was fermented with one-quarter whole clusters and aged in 20% new French." - Wine Enthusiast

"Brooding and youthful, with a compact core of lively acidity and tannins framed by nuanced raspberry, river stone and savory spice accents that persist on the finish. Best from 2020 through 2026. 2,300 cases made." — TF, Wine Spectator