Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast has a pale ruby color and is scented of cranberry sauce, crushed blackberries, rooibos tea leaves, woodsmoke and tree bark with notes of underbrush, tobacco leaf and citrus peel. The palate is medium-bodied, silky and surprisingly concentrated, with layers of earth-tinged fruits and bitters accents supported by grainy tannins and well-woven freshness, finishing very long. This punches above its weight this vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Delicate and juicy, with finely crafted flavors of cherry, raspberry and plum. Chocolate detail emerges midpalate, with a fresh, spicy finish. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an earthy, powerfully grippy and ripe red wine, with nuanced layers of plum and cherry cola. Dry firm tannins provide a powerful backdrop of intensity and complexity.
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.