Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Bright, focused flavors of raspberry, strawberry and pomegranate shine first in this crisp, acid-driven wine from a cool-climate site. The complexity of the wine is impressive: a mix of exotic Asian spice and forested earth that contrast and complement around firm seamless tannin.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Rice-Spivak Vineyard is medium ruby-purple in the glass and slowly opens on the nose to stewed Earl Grey tea leaves, saline, rosewater perfume and a broody core of ripe red and black cherries, cranberry and perfumed earth. The medium-bodied palate is concentrated and spicy with soft, grainy tannins and tangy acidity, finishing long and bright.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and crunchy, with sinewy power to the dried cherry and berry flavors, featuring saline hints. Red currant, mineral and savory aspects emerge on the pure-tasting and taut 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.