Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Named for winemaker Ross Cobb's late mother, who more than 20 years ago planted the Coastlands Vineyards' dry-farmed vines—some of the oldest in the region—this exquisitely distinctive wine celebrates all that is extreme and remarkable about the marriage of site, style and variety. Offering bay laurel in abundance, it has plenty of body to remain vibrant and complex, marked entirely in forest floor and heady allspice, with a nuance of cherry and white pepper on the finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Ross Cobb’s mother, Diane, planted this block at the top of the estate in 1989, mostly to figure out what would work on the property. It’s a complex mix of genetic material—over 20 pinot noir selections grown on their own roots. It was meant to serve as a nursery block, but turned out to make fascinating wine in its own right. This 2012 feels herbal and salty at first, its stemmy scents muting the fruit expression (40 percent was fermented as whole bunches). But everything engages as the wine takes on air, its heady aromas—cardamom, manzanita bark, green tea and apple skin—filling every nook and cranny of the structure with coastal complexity, the fruit rich, supple and tangy at the same time, with an exhilarating length.
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Decanter
A world apart from the 2011, and the winery’s most popular release, the 2012 Diane Cobb Pinot Noir spent 22 months in French oak, 40% new, and produced 225 cases. Bounding out of the glass is an ever-evolving nose of raspberry, kirsch, and kumquat, while black cherries and cardamom frame the palate and finish. It has the highest ABV of all Cobb's wines at 14.1%, but it is integrated nicely. A great introduction to this restrained winemaking style for drinkers accustomed to riper California Pinot Noir. Drinking Window 2019 - 2030
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pinot Noir Diane Cobb Coastlands Vineyard still has incredible fruit on the nose with loads of berry and rhubarb accented by dried flowers, tea and tobacco leaves. The medium-bodied palate is surprisingly concentrated and fresh, with a firm frame and long, flavor-packed finish. This is holding up beautifully and should drink well over the next 5-7 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.