Winemaker Notes
Uplifted aromatics. Compelling dark fruit notes of blueberry, blackberry, and boysenberry are coupled with a hint of currant and a seamless touch of vanilla. Vibrant with facets of dark fruit, wildflowers, and earthy layers that add sophistication and create intensity with refined tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried strawberry and wet earth with some ash and bark character. Medium to fully body. Cloves and other spices. Sichuan. Dried seaweed. Iodine. Flavorful finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is lifted with cedar, red cherry, and pine. The palate fills with grenadine and orange peel, soft, stony earth, and a silky texture.
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Wine Spectator
A lush, ripe style, with creamed plum and raspberry puree gliding through easily, flanked by lightly singed anise and mesquite. Shows a suave brushstroke of black tea on the finish. For the fruit bomb crowd. Drink now
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is medium ruby in color and delicately scented of cranberries, blackberries, crushed stone, tea leaves and bitters. The light-bodied palate features bright, earth-laced fruits, a silky texture and an uplifted, spicy finish.
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.