Winemaker Notes
Opulent in the glass, this wine has a garnet color and alluring red fruit aromas. The red fruit is echoed on the dynamic palate, where vibrant flavors of wild strawberry, cranberry and cocoa are underscored by a firm, acid-driven structure and fine dusty tannins that carry through to a lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Light and refined, with concentrated dried red cherry and berry flavors supported by fresh acidity. Underbrush and dried herbal notes on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby, the 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir offers blackberries, cranberries and rhubarb with notes of woodsmoke, black tea leaves and earth. The palate is light-bodied, soft and juicy with a good core of fruit and a satisfying 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.