Winemaker Notes
Ruby red with slight opacity and purple hues. Sour cherry, raspberry, and pomegranate interlaced with earthier shiitake and floral undertones on the nose. Lush and juicy on the palate, with elegant, round tannins, assertive acidity and generosity of fruit informing a texture that is lean, subtle, and decadent simultaneously.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir The Settler Cleary Ranch, aged in 38% new French oak, has a pale ruby-purple color and classic scents of tea leaves, earth, underbrush and laurel with a red berry core. The light-bodied palate has a good balance of fruit and earth, with a grainy, fresh frame and delicate finish.
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.