Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This comes from a parcel planted at a lower elevation than the El Coro recommended above—the soils here are heavy marine clay. In 2013 La Cruz grew a sanguine and firm expression of pinot noir, the aromas tilted toward scents of cumin and tomato leaf more than berry fruit. Bright acidity punches through the compact structure, refreshing the tough clay-grown tannins. It’s a powerful coastal pinot noir that will become more complex and velvety with a few more years in bottle—then pour it with duck breast.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Just look up the word elegant in the dictionary and you will find a picture of the fine 2013 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Pinot Noir. This is such a pretty wine and yet so serious that one may have to invite a plate of duck to the dinner table. Medium ruby, garnet in color; enticing red fruit aromas, excellent depth; medium bodied, bouncy and energetic on the palate; lively aftertaste. (Tasted: December 11, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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.