Winemaker Notes
This elegant and well-balanced wine will be a good accompaniment to lamb, salmon and mushroom accented dishes.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Nose has a Chambolle-Musigny overtone of beautiful light wild cherries and camembert cheese. The palate is earth overtones with mushroom and cherries. Nice medium body with balanced acids and light tannins.
-
Wine Spectator
Notably earthy in a pleasant way, this Pinot is firm, loamy and slow to build, with its dark berry core of flavors. Once there, the flavors are intense and persistent, compelling yet begging for a cellar slumber. Best from 2013 through 2021.
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.