Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A seductive wine in the range, the 2023 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault is a shade deeper medium red color and offers notes of shiitake, ripe cherries, incense, forest floor, and black tea. Medium to full-bodied, it has silky tannins, savory, earthy depth, and a layered palate with beautiful freshness and detail.
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James Suckling
Spicy aromas of flint, black cherries, dried strawberries, oranges and a touch of wet earth. Medium- to full-bodied with a crisp, poised palate. Shy in the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault has pure, soaring aromas of pomegranate juice, cranberry sauce, fennel, lavender and Angostura bitters. Medium-bodied, it floods the senses with layers of nuanced, crunchy fruit. It has a refined frame of chalky tannins, mouthwatering acidity and a long finish with a flourish of spicy accents.
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Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Estate San Andreas Fault is complex and dynamic in the glass. Wild cherry and strawberry fruit lend notable freshness as this mid-weight, understated Pinot gradually opens with a bit of coaxing. The 2023 possesses a lovely inner perfume to match its gracious, super-refined personality.
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.