Winemaker Notes
#52 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
The stunning bouquet of the 2017 UV-SL Pinot Noir offers striking aromas of juicy blackberries, crushed blueberries, and blood orange oil. The palate is loaded with concentrated dark fruits intertwined with an essence of cedar and pine forest floor. The tannin profile is broad yet supple with an incredible freshness leading to a long and succulent finish. Suggested drinking window is 2020 through 2032.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful, dark berries, strawberries and perfume. Flowers, too. Full bodied, very tight and chewy with polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Give this time to show it’s true glory.
Barrel Sample: 96-97 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard gives gorgeous black cherries, pomegranate, fresh blackberries and wild blueberries scents with suggestions of licorice, potpourri, chocolate tart and clove with a touch of dried Provence herbs. The palate is full-bodied with a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the flamboyant black and blue fruits, finishing with an exciting herbal lift.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and expressive, featuring concentrated boysenberry, plum tart and dark cherry flavors that are flush with crunchy acidity. Minerally midpalate, with a long, plush finish that offers flinty and meaty overtones. Drink now through 2024.
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.