Winemaker Notes
Gorgeous aromatics open on the 2019 Sea View Ridge Pinot Noir, running an alluring gamut from damp forest floor, coastal botanicals, briny sea air and crushed rocked minerality to deep red-almost-purple fruit. A seamless palate, from entry to finish, balances that vivid fruit with a savory umami quality, while silky tannins and fresh acidity merge in a structured finish brightened with a kick of orange zest.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A layered nose of plums, nutmeg, and violets. Full-bodied with soft, velvety tannins. Refreshing and bright, but with excellent depth and steady intensity. Cloves and rose petals. Lovely.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Sea View Ridge Vineyard comes from a vineyard just 1.8 miles from the Pacific Ocean and an altitude of 1,875 feet above sea level. It's lighter-hued compared to the Camp Meeting Ridge release and has an expressive, perfumed nose of mulberries, raspberries, and cherries as well as lots of baking spices and autumn leaves. Medium-bodied, beautifully balanced, and elegant, it's drinking nicely today yet opens up with time in the glass, and I suspect it will benefit from a year or three of bottle age. It should keep through 2031.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and focused, with lots of cedary accents to the dried berry and cherry flavors, with hints of juniper. Notes of licorice fill the juicy 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.