Winemaker Notes
The 2018 San Andreas Fault Estate Pinot Noir is charming and complex, with notes of cherries, pomegranate and baking spice. The tannins are gentle yet present, making this a perfect wine for both the impatient drinker and the collector. David Hirsch says that if you drink only one Hirsch wine, let it be this one.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault is one of the more up-front, fruit-driven wines in the lineup. It offers ample Bing cherry and almost blackberry and mulberry-like fruit supported by sappy herb and flower aromas and flavors. Nicely textured on the palate, medium to full-bodied, up-front and juicy, it has lots of charm and will unquestionably continue to drink nicely for at least 7-8 years, and I suspect even longer.
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James Suckling
Lots of pure fruit here with crushed strawberries, flowers, dried mushrooms and bark on the nose, following through to a full body with loads of ripe fruit and chewy tannins. It’s an intense red with lots of fruit-driven character but, it’s got freshness and energy. Give it another two or three years of bottle age.
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Wine & Spirits
Jasmine Hirsch blended this wine from 45 of her family’s 67 parcels of vines. In 2018, a cool season punc-tuated by a Labor Day heat spell ripened the fruit to a powerful, juicy intensity without any weight. The structure is fit and lithe, a cold, crisp pinot saturated with dark cherry-skin tannins, reso-nant with notes of cherries and coastal forest.
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Wine Spectator
Powerful and refined, with a concentrated blend of spiced cherry, red currant and dried berry flavors that are backed by crisp acidity and firm tannins. The finish is propelled by intense minerality and savory spice notes. Best from 2022 through 2027.
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Decanter
The flagship Hirsch Pinot Noir. Fresh flowers, sage and candy floss aromas lead to a spry and polished palate, with a soft but upright spine of red fruits through the core. Subtly nutty and powdery on the finish. Sourced from 28ha of Pinot Noir vineyards, with half coming from 30- to 40-year-old vines and the other half from from 20-year-old vines.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is the producer's signature wine, made from dozens of distinct blocks on the wild, coastal property. Savory and structured, it shows a mix of cranberry, cassis and forest, with notions of sea spray that add to its saltiness and help to underline a thread of cardamom. Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault has a pale ruby color and alluring scents of licorice, forest floor, wild blackberries and mint, with bright touches of citrus peel. The palate is light-bodied with gentle grip and juicy, crunchy, earth-laced fruits, finishing long and delicate.
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.