Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is a deep but transparent red, with ripe aromas of red cherry, wild herbs, pine, and damp earth. The palate is ripe and saturated with fantastic lift and energy, noted with blood orange, snappy with ripe pomegranate, and offering a crunchy texture. it is a lovely wine to drink over next several years, but I like its youthful nature. Drink 2024-2034.
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Wine Spectator
This pumps out tasty mulberry and black cherry fruit paste flavors, which show drive and focus as singed anise, warm earth and black tea notes come into play. Reveals late savory and bramble notes, which inject a nice hint of wild energy into the well-structured finish. Best from 2024 through 2030.
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.