Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault pours a rich ruby and offers aromas of black cherry, cardamom, forest earth, and violets. It’s full-bodied, with more black cherry and blackberry on the palate, as well as fine tannins, tangy acidity, and notes of fresh berries and turned earth. It’s clean and balanced and has a fairly long finish.
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Vinous
The 2020 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault comes across as quite soft in this vintage, but that’s not a bad thing. Crushed rocks, red-toned fruit, rose petal, iron, mint and dried herbs all run through this vibrant, chiseled, aromatic Pinot Noir. Like all the Pinots here, the 2020 is on the lighter side, but all the elements are well balanced.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
At this stage, the 2020 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault seems to have escaped impact from the season's devastating heat and wildfires. It has slowly opening aromas of cranberry jelly, rhubarb, mossy bark and mushrooms plus touches of cinnamon and potpourri. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated, savory flavors. It has a frame of chalky tannins and seamless acidity with a long, spicy finish.
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.