Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Pivot Vineyard is Littorai’s “home vineyard” surrounding the winery. It is composed mainly of Gold Ridge soil, is all biodynamically managed, and now that the vines are well-established (planted in 2004), it is dry farmed. Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2014 Pinot Noir The Pivot Vineyard offers notes of black raspberries and black cherries with underlying touches of fallen leaves, charcoal and black soil, plus a waft of Provence herbs. Medium-bodied with a firm backbone of chewy tannins, it has plenty of complex earth and black fruit flavor layers with a lovely herbal lift on the finish.
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James Suckling
Aromas of tile and strawberry. Hints of herb. Medium to full body, soft and silky tannins and a savory finish. Refined and pretty.
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.