Winemaker Notes
First impression is of cherry and red, fuji apple. Once you have arrived, you’ll find more savory hints of shiitake mushroom, Asian five spice, and forest floor.. This is one of those lovely Pinot Noirs that you can experience through its aromas. On the palate, fine, delicate tannins meld with a crisp cranberry and grapefruit tartness, and subtle elements of lavender, pine, and truffle.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Like the Emmaline Ann recommended here, this comes from a vineyard planted on Goldridge soil near Sebastopol; this site has a bit more volcanic material and a cool northern exposure. While many coastal pinots from northern California have a foresty aspect to them, this wine seems particularly leafy and delicate, with a cool fruit character that feels as refreshing as iced tea—you can almost imagine beads of condensation on the glass. It’s a touch lean right now, needing some age or an hour in a decanter to allow its bright red fruit tones to emerge and throw a layer of silky finesse over its savory spine.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A smooth-sailing effort with excellent tension, the 2014 Cobb Rice-Spivak Vineyard exhibits superb vibrancy with its cranberry to blueberry aromas and flavors. The wine's bright finish pairs it well with fresh salmon sashimi hand rolls. (Tasted: August 7, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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.