La Follette North Coast Pinot Noir 2016
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Concentrated aromas of berry basket, hibiscus, and spice, underscored by notes of pipe tobacco, toffee, earth. Lively, red-fruited entry leads to a palate of raspberry and brush, with balanced volume and soft tannins. A burst of acidity on the late palate soars to an elegant finish with a mineral note. Classic Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir aromatics with refined body and texture.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a juicy, spicy and well-developed appellation wine—a testament to good winemaking and fruit. Cardamom, dark cherry, pomegranate and tannin combine well and find contrast and complement within a balanced light-bodied style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is pale ruby-purple colored with a nose of wild strawberries, warm red currants and kirsch with hints of underbrush and rose hip tea. Light to medium-bodied with great freshness and delicacy, it has a soft texture and lively lift to the finish.
Other Vintages
2014-
Wine
Enthusiast
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Wine
Enthusiast
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.