Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Hobbs's second label pinot noir has tension to its sweet blue and red berry flavors. It's shadowed by darker oak spice, which adds to the rich impression given by the juicy, supple texture. The long, tart berry flavors will add depth to prime rib.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Pinot Noir CrossBarn is a selection from Sonoma Coast vineyards. Sweet, gamey, autumnal, vegetative notes intermixed with plum sauce, black cherries, flowers and root vegetables are found in this complex, evolved, round, generous Pinot Noir. Consume it over the next 2-3 years.
88-90 points.
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.