Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is a gorgeous wine with complex aromas and flavors of strawberry and spices with hints of briny beef. Voluptuous mouthfeel. Very balanced tannins. All here.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Classic Fort Ross Pinot Noir, this is rich and textural. The flavors of raspberry parfait and cherry pie are spicy, honeyed and brightened by acidity.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve possesses a deeper color and ratchets up the level of concentration. Copious aromas of forest floor, spring flowers, sweet strawberries and cherries, roasted herbs and spice are found in this beautiful, expressive Pinot.
-
Wine Spectator
Offers lots of smoky, toasty oak, with fruit to match, cloaking rich dark berry flavors that are intense, deep and persistent. Shows impressive purity, backbone and density. Needs time. Best from 2014 through 2023.
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.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.