Winemaker Notes
Extremely fragrant with floral lavender and blood orange citrus on the nose along with rich raspberry, red plum, spicy bay laurel, and notes of white pepper. Takes 1-2 hours to open in a decanter, yielding sappy notes and broad tannins. Highly recommended for your long-term cellar program.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Sourced from a clonal nursery test-block planted in 1989. Tobacco, tree sap, and rose petals on the nose. The palate is deft and lifted with a savoury, cured meat-like element showing itself. A structured and definitive Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir for the long haul. Drinking Window 2020 - 2036
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Wine Enthusiast
Named for the winemaker's late mother, this particular bottling is always a standout. It offers entangled layers of tangerine, strawberry and earthy leather. This is a fine wine to consider cellaring; enjoy 2021–2026. Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Diane Cobb Coastlands Vineyard has a pale ruby color and scents of cranberry sauce, cracked pepper, woodsmoke and tobacco leaves with top notes of citrus peel and floral perfume. The medium-bodied palate is grainy and fresh, exploding with savory flavors while maintaining that pretty floral nuance through the long finish. Lovely!
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Wine & Spirits
By the fourth day of tasting this wine, its tough tannins turned lighter, almost airy in their sandstone abrasion, while the spicy notes of strawberry, cranberry and rhubarb turned racy and elegant. Ross Cobb grows this wine at a nursery block of vines his mother planted in 1989, when his parents were just beginning to establish their Coastlands Vineyard. It includes more than 20 selections on their own roots, particularly Jackson Clone 16, one of the more successful at the site (the family later propagated it more extensively in this block). From the crisp details of the delicate fruit to the transformation of the tannins with air, everything points to the coastal complexity this wine will grow into with time.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pinot Noir Coastlands Diane Cobb is ripe with sun-dried red plum, allspice, and forest floor. The palate has a medium build, with notes of cherry pit, orange zest, clove, and tea leaf, followed by a tangy sour cherry finish.
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.