Winemaker Notes
A beautiful nose of black and red cherry, black tea, cedar forest, white flowers, and spice. Supple and flavorful on the palate with black licorice, black cherry, spice box, suede underpinned by a velvety texture and lengthy finish. Drinking very well now and built to age.
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Redcurrants, Mediterranean herbs, chocolate, and some darker tea notes all emerge from the 2021 Pinot Noir Sun Chase Vineyard, a more masculine, medium to full-bodied, savory, complex effort. It has plenty of density and depth, and I expect it will evolve for a decade.
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James Suckling
A rich pinot noir with dried strawberry, berry, stem and walnut notes. It’s full and layered with lots of character and an intense and powerful finish. Flamboyant and structured. Needs three or four years to come together.
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.