Fort Ross Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir (375ML half-bottle) 2012
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Robert
Parker -
Wilfred
Wong
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pinot Noir Fort Ross Vineyard has notes of black raspberries, kirsch, baking spices, subtle earth and a hint of gravel-like minerality. The wine has terrific fruit on the attack and mid-palate, medium to full body, and a long finish. This is a beauty to drink over the next decade.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Showing attractive complexities, the nicely-matured 2012 Fort Ross Pinot Noir is just beginning to drink well. The wine's range of flavors—red and black fruits, savory spices, and earth—make it a great pairing candidate with braised beef dishes. (Tasted: August 21, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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2017-
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Robert
Parker -
James
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Spectator -
Robert
Parker
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
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Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Nestled on a sunny coastal ridge, overlooking the Pacific Ocean a mile below, Fort Ross'"True Sonoma Coast" vineyard is one of the closest, if not the closest, to the ocean in all of California. From the vineyard you can see the breaking surf and the misty silhouettes of Bodega Head and Pt. Reyes far below. The vineyard's high elevation above the coastal fog and its proximity to the ocean provide a gentle, sunny and temperate climate that has proved to be very favorable for the slow and even ripening of Burgundian varietals.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.