Winemaker Notes
As a blend of true cool-climate pinot vineyards, Small Town’s source components have evolved over the years to include fruit from outside the original Freestone region. For 2016, the fruit from an outstanding harvest at Grand Vent in the chilly Petaluma Gap took center stage for the blend.
If you enjoyed the 2015 The Pianist pinot, you know what kind of quality and character this vineyard can achieve. Leading off with a gorgeous nose of forest floor, black tea, orange rind and delicate red fruits, you’ll want to dive into the glass, but hold off and sit back to just enjoy the aromatics for a while.
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Sporting a good sense of refinement from the very first with a keen streak of incisive fruit running its length and showing a good deal of sophistication already both in terms of its texture and deep, nicely layered flavors, this well-balanced, mediumfull-bodied Pinot displays an especially careful winemaking hand. However tempting it is right now, it has the structure and depth to age famously and is certain to become even more polished and expressive over the next three to five years.
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.