Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a tight and silky pinot with a bright and vivid fruit character, showing undertones of cool stones and lime skin. Medium to full body with very tight tension. A long and flavorful finish. Shows precision and focus. From a dry-farmed vineyard.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a site in the West Sebastopol region, the 2016 Pinot Noir Thorn Ridge has cool-climate notes of Christmas spice, pinewood, forest floor, and perfumed red fruits. Medium-bodied, lightly textured, and incredibly elegant, it shines for its complexity and delicate style more than for power and richness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Thorn Ridge Ranch aged 14 months in 16% new French oak. It has a pale to medium ruby color and opens with intriguing scents of white pepper, aniseed, dried tree bark and bitters notions with dried citrus peel, potpourri and a red berry core. Light to medium-bodied and silky, it offers intense, amaro-laced layers with a grainy frame and addicting acidity, finishing long and nuanced. I love the understated intensity and pleasant bitter character of this classically styled Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. 300 cases were made.
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.