Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby in color, the 2017 Pinot Noir Calesa Vineyard has a very pretty nose with aromas of dried violets and rose petals, bergamot, woodsmoke and cola over a core of ripe red and black fruits with spicy hints—such a lovely perfume! Medium-bodied, it gives concentrated, spicy red and black fruits in the mouth with earthy touches, refreshed by just enough acidity and knit together with grainy tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
Big, burly and earthy, with deft, dense layers of stemmy strawberry and tea, this is a full bodied and richly interwoven wine from the coast. Spicy in cardamon and sage, it finishes balanced and bold.
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.”
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.