Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from a block located on a northern facing ridge north of Fort Ross, on the Sonoma Coast, the 2017 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard was destemmed and spent 17 months in 32% new French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, it offers a deeper, richer, more savory bouquet of black cherry and darker currant fruits as well as loads of ground herbs, chocolate, forest floor, and spice. This rich, opulent, incredibly sexy Pinot Noir has a wealth of fruit, a rounded, seamless texture, and a great finish. It's a rock star in this stacked lineup and a gem of a wine in the vintage. I love it!
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir Far Coast Vineyard is a little mute at first sniff, with the nose slowly unfurling to reveal beautifully perfumed notes of lilacs, Ceylon tea and bouquet garni over a core of Bing cherries, raspberry leaves and cranberries. Medium-bodied, the palate is fine-boned, refreshing and elegantly played with exquisitely ripe tannins and layers of red, black and blue fruits, finishing long and fragrant.
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Wine Spectator
Offers an aroma of forest floor, with rich minerality to the pure-tasting red fruit flavors. Hints of mocha show midpalate, leading to a finish of ground cooking spice notes, accented by lively acidity and medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2025.
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.