Winemaker Notes
The minute one pours this wine in a glass you can't help but notice the deep, dark burgundy color. On the nose, one is greeted with layers of purple flowers and baking spice notes. The mark of a great Pinot is always how long one's nose lingers on the glass taking in the beauty offered. It takes some time to ponder and unpack the layers offered up by this wine. On the palate, it is dense and concentrated and only after one full year in bottle is it finally showing the exuberance and richness of the vintage (and vineyard). There is a cornucopia of wild berry fruit with a beautiful balance of tartness and ripeness. The finish easily persist for 60+ seconds giving one time to take it all in. While entirely enticing now, this wine will take two to three years to come together more completely, and should age effortlessly for 15-20 years.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another terrific 2015, the 2015 Pinot Noir Coastview’s deep ruby/purple tinged color is followed by classic notes of black cherries, dried herbs, earth and spice-cabinet. With medium-bodied richness, bright acidity, present, chewy tannin, and plenty of length, give it a few years to come together and enjoy bottles through 2030.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Juniper, pine needle and sandalwood aromas decorate the dark cranberry fruit on the nose of this bottling from a vineyard 2,200-feet above the eastern Salinas Valley. The 55% whole cluster fermentation contributes to the woody side of the grape on the palate, where herbal and forest flavors are sprinkled on the baked raspberry fruit.
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Wine & Spirits
This grows on a north-facing hillside where syrah struggled to ripen, so John Allen began grafting it to pinot noir—Dijon clones from the Alfaro Vineyard—in 2008. Those vines produced a light, airy 2015 with flavors of cherry pits and cherry flesh, tight, tart and almost lemony in its fresh acidity. Pour it with roasted sea bass finished in a red wine reduction.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.