Winemaker Notes
Elegant and inviting with aromas of ripe cherry, plum, and red fruit intertwined with notes of cocoa, caramel, and a hint of wet slate. Beautifully balanced, revealing flavors of dark fruit, raspberry, and subtle baking spices. Smooth tannins and soft acidity create a rich yet delicate texture with an extended finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Perfumed aromas of wild blackberries, strawberries, potpourri and citrus peel. The palate is medium-bodied with focused acidity and fine tannins, giving notes of boysenberries, dark cherries, hibiscus and cassia bark. Very pretty, with a underlying savory note.
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Wine Spectator
Soft and forward, with boysenberry and mulberry compote notes that open up quickly. Offers flattering bramble and anise hints on the finish. Drink now through 2027. 2,876 cases made.
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.