Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard, which comes from a mountain ridge north of Fort Ross on the Sonoma Coast (408 cases), shows lots of herbaceousness, Japanese green tea notes intermixed with cocoa, black cherries, pomegranate and a hint of earth. This is a spicy, distinctively herbal style of Pinot Noir that readers will either love or not. I did like it, because it offers such a contrast in style to the other Pinot Noirs from Don Hartford’s winery. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
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.