Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Fermented with 10% stems and aged 18 months in 15% new French oak, the 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast has a pretty bouquet of tart cherry and strawberry fruits as well as a distinctly floral character, notes of underbrush and orange blossom, medium to full body, a beautifully pure texture, and a great finish. It's a richer, powerful Pinot Noir that still stays remarkably elegant and pure, with good acidity, polished tannins, and again, a great finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. It needs air to show at its best and is a beautiful, outstanding 2018 Pinot Noir that will drink well for a solid 8-10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby, the 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast offers blackberries and blood orange with accents of graphite, licorice and dusty earth. The palate is light-bodied, firm and very juicy with lots of spicy accents on the 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.