Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is dense and focused with a very tight and compacted palate of blackberries, blueberries and smoke. Full-bodied and very flavorful. Structured and so beautiful. Quite muscular. Drink in 2021.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The medium ruby-purple colored 2017 Pinot Noir CIX Estate has beautiful red raspberries, cranberry pie and Bing cherries scents with nuances of lavender, dried herbs, red roses and tilled soil plus a touch of underbrush. The palate is full, firm and grainy with lovely ripe tannins and a great core of vibrant red fruit, finishing long and perfumed.
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.