Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The least expensive wine, the 2014 Pinot Noir Chimera, comes from several Russian River sites and sees only 10% new oak. Its is a beautiful wine and Capiaux’s biggest production item. It is a heck of a value for an outstanding Pinot Noir. Beautiful sassafras, pomegranate and black cherry notes intermixed with some damp earth and forest floor are all present in this wine, which also offers some baking spices and subtle background earth in its long, heady finish. Drink it over the next 3-4 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.