The West Ridge is a series of hilltop vineyard blocks, spread like vertebrae along a spine. The soils on the West Ridge are highly heterogeneous, ranging from heavy black clay to sand to loam to yellow clay mixed with rock. The West Ridge Estate Pinot Noir is a selection of the finest and most expressive blocks on the West Ridge of Hirsch, planted between 1990 and 2013. The West Ridge is the most delicate of Hirsch’s wines, with soft tannins and transparent fruit. It is a wine that seduces with complexity and mystery, rather than with power.
Very transparent and fresh aromas of sliced strawberries, lemons and pomegranate. Medium to full body with firm, linear tannins that run through the wine, giving it energy and form. It’s really long. I like the earth, lightly smoked meat and fruit at the end. Always sophisticated and fine.
97 points, JamesSuckling.com (August 2021)
Cassis and Kir come to the fore of this focused and crisp red wine, which buzzes in tension and verve-like energy. Supple and sleek on the palate, it is complex in saline, rock and forest undertones, lithe and lingering on the mind and the soul.
94 points, Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast (April 2022)
