Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This beautifully crafted wine offers fragrant, floral plum, blueberry and wild berry that are supple and graceful, delicate and persistent. A velvety aftertaste echoes black licorice and sandalwood.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
My favorite effort in this entire Pinot Noir portfolio is the 2008 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard, a blend of equal parts Calera and the Vosne-Romanee suitcase clones. Its deep ruby/plum color is accompanied by sweet aromas of beef blood, damp earth, spring flowers, raspberries, cola and black cherries. Full-bodied, concentrated and rich with silky tannins as well as good acidity, it should drink nicely for 7-10 years.
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.