Winemaker Notes
Intense violet in color, this hedonistic wine has alluring concentration and purity of fruit focus. Vibrant aromas of vine ripened raspberry and Santa Rosa plum harmonize with cigar box, baking spice and notes of coastal forest floor. Heady aromas lead to equally vivid flavors of mixed berries and white pepper. Juicy red fruits compliment a velvet-like texture on the palate with an appealing spicy finish.
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Somewhat more spicy and savory in scent with suggestions of roasted meat and dark stony soils separating it from its mates and, withal, a dense yet fairly complex wine that still hews to the substantial, well-extracted fruit shared by all of the Benovia offerings, the Tilton Hill Pinot is a big, still somewhat inelegant effort that, even though long on character and interest, very clearly asks for more bottle age. It is not quite as luscious as its immediate kin, and its slightly grippy finishing tannins will start to ease in a few years, but we see a long life before it and expect it to improve for a half-dozen or more.
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.