Winemaker Notes
The San Andreas Fault Estate Pinot Noir is the flagship wine from Hirsch, and the wine that represents the summation of our complex vineyard. David Hirsch says if you drink only one of their wines this should be it. 100% estate, 100% Hirsch. In their 2016 Pinot Noirs, you will find the dark intensity of their 2015s, with the lift and energy of the 2014s.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault is youthfully shy on the nose, giving up strawberry and raspberry preserves, bergamot, amaro, rose petals, charcuterie and pipe tobacco. The light to medium-bodied palate offers nuanced red fruits with firm, grainy tannins, finishing on a bitters note.
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Wine & Spirits
This is Anthony Filiberti’s first vintage at the Hirsch family’s vineyard in Fort Ross. It’s planted on a series of ridgetops three miles from the Pacific and 1,500 feet above it, those ridges formed by the San Andreas fault, resting under the land between the vines and the ocean. David Hirsch started planting the ridges in 1980, later converting the site to biodynamic farming. This blend includes fruit from the more exposed western ridges and the warmer, inland ridges to the east. W&S editor Patrick J. Comiskey described the wine as “classic Sonoma coast in its scent of laurel groves in the fog.” There’s a savory green character, the lovely spice driving floral black fruit through the earthy tannins. Those tannins will relax after a few years in the bottle.
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.