Winemaker Notes
In the glass the wine exhibits a garnet hue with a light ruby halo. Waves of aromas emerge from the glass suggesting pine bough, cranberry compote, clove, and loam. The luxurious palate has layers of spicy brambly fruit, toasted cedar, pomegranate, star anise and lavender.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Zeroes in on a supple core of juicy, zesty blackberry and wild berry flavors, maintaining a tight focus, ending with fine-grained tannins and a persistent fruity aftertaste.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.