Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Pinot Noir The Bohan-Dillon is lifted, with medicinal herbs, wild strawberry, and stony earth, and the palate is medium-bodied, with fresh acid structure. Crunchy cranberry fruit, dusty earth, and hibiscus coax through this weightless style.
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James Suckling
A fresh pinot with dark-earth, white-pepper and strawberry character. Medium-bodied, tannic and intense with cloves. Juicy and flavorful. Blackberries and dried strawberry stems.
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.