Winemaker Notes
Deep purple ruby color, with aromas of cherry, strawberry jam, nutmeg spice with leather, blond tobacco leaf with cedar pencil and floral accents. The palate is rich and showy with juicy black cherry, raspberry tea, and baking spice mixed with savory notes of tobacco and cedar leading to a complex, layered finish surrounded with velvety tannins and showing lingering cherry candy notes. Drink now or cellar 5-7 years.
Pairs beautifully with a seared duck breast with a blackberry gastrique or with a pureéd mushroom potato soup with walnuts and thyme.
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.