Despite its modest price point, the 2023 Pinot Noir Mirabai (a barrel selection) comes from some of the top vineyards in the Dundee Hills. Fifty-two percent comes from own-rooted vines in the Weber Vineyard planted in 1983; 28% comes from Stater Vineyard, where vines were planted on rootstock in 1990; 11% comes from own-rooted vines planted in 1974 and 1984 in Durant Vineyard; and 9% comes from own-rooted vines planted from 1970 to 1988 in the Maresh Vineyard. It was fermented with around 15% whole clusters, and the wine was matured for 10 months in used French oak. It has ringing aromas of rhubarb, blackberry, raspberry, lavender and Angostura bitters, offering botanical undertones as it airs in the glass. The light-bodied palate is vibrant and expressive with wonderfully perfumed fruit, chalky tannins and a long, tremendously layered finish. 1,808 cases were made.
93 points, Erin Brooks, Wine Advocate (Dec 2024)
The 2023 Mirabai bottling of pinot noir from Kelley Fox hails from different vineyards in this vintage than was the case last year. The fruit composition of the 2023 version is fifty-two percent from the Weber Vineyard, twenty-eight percent from the Stater Vineyard, eleven percent Durant Vineyard and nine percent Maresh Vineyard; hence the Dundee Hills AVA for the wine this year. It tips the scales at 13.5 percent in 2023 and included about fifteen percent whole clusters. The wine offers up a beautifully pure and sappy nose of red and black cherries, sweet beetroot, roses, peonies, gamebird, a complex base of soil tones just a hint of black tea and gentle savory notes in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, precise and vibrant, with a lovely depth of sappy fruit, an excellent foundation of soil, beautifully integrated tannins, excellent balance and a long, complex and lifted finish. This is meant to be Kelley’s most user-friendly bottling of pinot noir out of the blocks and the 2023 is certainly already very easy to enjoy. That said, it is still effectively quite primary in personality and truly deserves at least five or six years in the cellar to allow its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. It is a beautiful wine in the making.
93 points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar (Dec 2024)
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