Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Shows amazing richness, depth and purity of flavor, with a concentrated mix of blackberry, red plum, wild berry and cherry kirsch. Intense, complex and deftly balanced, with a long, persistent finish. Drink now through 2013. 325 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2002 Pinot Noir Blue Slide Ridge, which I questioned last year because I thought it was picking up some volatile acidity, tasted superb. It offers black raspberry, blueberry, violet, and subtle damp forest floor notes, beautiful acidity that buttresses its superb richness, intensity, and ripeness, medium to full body, and a stunning finish. This Pinot has done a complete turnabout in bottle and is showing fabulously well, at the same time making me feel like a knucklehead for my comments last year. It should drink well for 7-8 years. 95+
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.