Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
From a considerably warmer site on the property, the 2019 Pinot Noir East Ridge is more grounded with coniferous aromatics of pine and resin as well as cherry fruit and turned earth. The palate has more juicy fruit and mid-palate depth, with dried violets and stony minerality, while still having beautiful stylistic levity.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2019 Pinot Noir East Ridge offers slowly unfolding scents of red and black berries, underbrush, tobacco, licorice and dried earth with an undercurrent of spicy accents. Medium-bodied, silky and refreshing, it strikes a fine balance of intense, youthful fruit and savory, earthy accents, and it has a long, flavorful finish with notably more intensity than previous vintages.
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.”
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.