Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Dark, ripe and juicy with deep black cherry, spice and vanilla; powerful yet elegant, long and rich.
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Wine Spectator
Tannic and slow to unfold, with a core of plum, cherry, raspberry and wilted rose scents. A touch of graphite and crushed rock weave in on the finish. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
Within a statement-sized bottle, this heavy, lush and aromatic Pinot Noir from a great vineyard could ignite debates about California Pinot styles. Aged about a year in all French oak, 65% of it new, it reveals an expanse of dark cherry fruit, velvety texture and plenty of structure amidst a leathery core and lengthy finish.
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.”
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.