Winemaker Notes
The 2022 San Andreas is classic, elegant and consummately Hirsch. The nose evokes our wild coastal mountains, with aromatics of dried sage, wild mint and wet stone adding interest to notes of Bing cherry and Alpine strawberries. There’s a hint of the Pacific Ocean in its mineral, saline character. The palate is juicy, fresh and high-toned, with lithe tannins and a very long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Black cherries, blackberries, flint and matchsticks come through on the nose. Medium-bodied with a savory and supple character. The tannins are totally integrated and polished. Tangy and minerally at the end.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the 2022s, the 2022 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault pours a more saturated medium red color, and the nose shows notes of ripe cherries, dark stones, wild herbs, and fresh earth. Medium-bodied, it offers balanced density of fruit, with a supple texture, ripe tannins, and a clean, stony, mouthwatering finish. While they typically produced around 3000 cases of this cuvée, in this vintage they were only able to produce 900 cases.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault has intense, inviting aromas of pomegranate, raspberry and blood orange, plus nuances of rooibos tea, forest floor and bitters. The medium-bodied palate offers concentrated, layered flavors. It’s framed by refined, chalky tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a long, flavorful finish.
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Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Estate San Andreas Fault is quite the powerhouse. Incisive floral and savory notes weave through a deep core of fruit. All the natural intensity of the year comes through in this dense, concentrated Pinot. The 2022 is going to need time to soften. Yields were a minuscule 1.1 tons per acre.
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.