Winemaker Notes
The 2017 J. Lohr Fog’s Reach Pinot Noir expresses the varietal terroir of the Arroyo Seco region as purely as in any previous vintage. Elements of blue sage and strawberry are evident on the nose and palate, with gracious cherry fruit on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
In Fog’s Reach— Jerry Lohr’s frst estate vineyard— fog and wind join well-drained soils in infuencing the character of the intensely favored grapes. On the nose, this French oak–aged red blooms with a garden of lilac and lavender, and juicy notes of cherry and sweet tobacco waltz in on the elegant palate. A touch of mineraldriven soil melds with blue fowers on the fnish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Rich and deep on the nose, this bottling offers concentrated aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, cappuccino and oak on the inviting nose. The palate is broad in flavors of black cherry and boysenberry wrapped in toasty oak, making for a powerful style of Pinot Noir.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from a mix of clones 115 and 777, all from the cooler Arroyo Sec appellation, the 2017 Pinot Noir Fog's Reach has a rounded, elegant, balanced style as well as classic notes of ripe cherries, dried flowers, and forest floor. It's silky, beautifully balanced, has loads of charm, and is a rock-solid Pinot Noir to enjoy over the coming 5-7 years.
For more than fifty years and through two generations, the Lohr family and their team have been leaders in the California wine industry. Founder Jerry Lohr and his three children Steve, Cynthia, and Lawrence oversee one of the country's most successful and trusted fine wine labels. With first plantings in Monterey in 1972 and then in Paso Robles in 1986, the team helped write the book on sustainable winegrowing on the Central Coast.
Today, J. Lohr farms more than 4,000 acres of estate vineyards in Monterey's Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations, Paso Robles, and St. Helena in the Napa Valley. They produce eight tiers of award-winning releases: J. Lohr Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, J. Lohr Cuvée Series, J. Lohr Vineyard Series, J. Lohr Gesture, J. Lohr Pure Paso Proprietary Red Wine, J. Lohr Estates, J. Lohr Monterey Roots, and ARIEL Vineyards.
J. Lohr is a Certified California Sustainable Vineyard and Winery and was honored with the 2020 Green Medal Leader Award in recognition of the company's decades-long commitment to sustainability.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Named after the dramatic, seasonal river of rain and snowmelt that cuts through the upper elevations of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the Arroyo Seco AVA extends east from the resultant mountain gorge, and into the rural and warm Salinas Valley. During the growing season, cool and damp Pacific Ocean air penetrates the gorge and flows into the valley, creating a cool evening respite for vineyards after a hot summer day. This natural water-release has also created a subterranean aquifer, which helps set the foundation of the AVA's boundaries and supplies the vineyards with water.
Arroyo Seco was actually home to the first commercial vineyard in California, called Mission Ranch, which was owned and propogated by the Mirassou family in the 1960s.
Chardonnay is most widely grown here. But as one of Monterey’s warmer regions, Arroyo Seco enjoys the highest praise for its reds, namely Bordeaux blends.
Arroyo Seco is one of the oldest AVAs in California, its status granted in the early 1980s, and also remains one of its smallest.