The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Russian River Valley

Varietal   Pinot Noir

Retail Price   $45

ABV   14.2%

Score   4.5 Stars/96 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, medium ruby color.

The aromatics are intense, offering scents of black cherry and forest floor with supporting notes of dried herbs, elderberry, black tea, and a hint of cranberry.

The palate confirms the nose delivering a red and black fruits-driven core with flavors of raspberry, black fruits, red and black plum, and mineral. The finish is long and lingering with soft tannins.

Medium to full-bodied and perfectly balanced with a supple texture.

Cool Factor

We have yet to find a Tongue Dancer Wines Pinot Noir that was not the pinacle of cool. Their Foxtrot label delivers again with excellent fruit and superb winemaking.

Value Grade

A topflight Pinot Noir made with a small production selling at under $50 is a great value in today's wine market. Get this one while it lasts.

Analysis

This is the third vintage of Tongue Dancer Wines’ (TDW) Foxtrot and the second on the trot from the Russian River Valley. They describe it as a fun-to-drink dance of a wine and we agree. The grapes are sourced from a single vineyard in the Chalk Hill sub-AVA. Grapes have been grown on this property since 1869. This wine features two Pinot Noir Clones, Dijon 115 and Pommard 4. The grapes were hand-picked on the cool morning of August 19th and gently de-stemmed — not crushed. Thrice daily punchdowns and could fermenting temperatures insured depth and a fruit-forward wine. The wine spent 11 months on the lies in French oak — 20% new oak. It was bottled unfined and lightly filtered in August of 2022. The resulting wine is truly exceptional and simply fun to drink.

How to Enjoy

This wine really needs nothing but a glass but the rich texture and bright acidity would pair perfectly with a grilled beef ribeye or rich, braised beef and mushrooms.