Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of forest fruits on the nose with dried strawberries too. Hot stones. Full body, round and polished tannins, and a sleek and a minerally finish. Steely. Lightly austere.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep ruby-purple colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard is intensely scented of crushed raspberries and blackberries with a pretty perfume of violets, wild thyme and mossy bark. Light to medium-bodied, the intensity of flavors is nicely juxtaposed by the ethereal elegance, with soft, fine grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with lingering earthy notes.
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.