Winemaker Notes
The deep garnet hue of this wine belies its provenance from Dijon clones 777, 667 and 115. The Freestone aromatics begin with rose hips and flesh out to nice broad red fruit notes of Rainier cherries and Santa Rosa plums. Subtle and fresh attack with very fine tannin that supports the rolling, seductive red fruit and finishes on perfectly balanced acid. This wine pulls you into the glass.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
An attractive array of brambly wild-cherry aromas lead to a palate that has a succulent, restrained and vibrantly elegant texture with juicy, lithe red cherries. Impressive structural detail. Drink or hold.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby, the 2016 Pinot Noir Cleary Ranch The Settler has a nose of granite dust, tobacco leaf, crunchy cranberry and Bing cherry with soft potpourri touches. Light to medium-bodied, it's earthy and minerally in the mouth with soft, grainy tannins and a nuanced finish that segues from earth and swells into tart red fruits.
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.