Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Not unlike the radiant 2013, this is open for business right away, but is a touch more angular and floral throughout. Sage, root beer, and bark aromas lead to a palate of bing cherries, salted caramel and black tea. Give this a couple more years to settle into its high-toned structure. Between the three single-block Coastlands bottlings, I find the Diane Cobb one to be the most aromatically complex and well rounded. 310 cases produced. 22 months in French oak, 35% new.
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James Suckling
Vivid aromas of crushed strawberry and cherry. Hints of mushroom. Full body, dense fruit with plenty of citrus underneath. Pretty tension to this. Hints of white pepper.
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.