Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The exquisite, dark ruby/purple-tinged 2007 Pinot Noir Reuling Vineyard offers up copious aromas of blue, red, and black fruits in addition to terrific acidity, a broad expansive mouthfeel, and roasted meat, black raspberry, wild strawberry, and foresty flora characteristics. It is a big, concentrated Pinot Noir that makes a mockery of all the over-cropped Pinots that are promoted as “authentic expressions of terroir,” when in fact, they are made from over-cropped vineyards and prey on those not familiar with what top-flight Pinot Noirs should taste like.
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Wine Spectator
Dark, ripe and expressive, full-bodied and very complex, with tiers of black cherry, plum, spice, subtle earth and mocha-chocolate notes. Despite its depth of flavor, this sits elegantly on the palate and ends with a delicate combination of flavors. Drink now through 2015.
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.