Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The medium to full-bodied, dark ruby/plum-colored 2010 Pinot Noir Blue Slide Ridge displays the blue fruit spectrum along with some raspberries, fresh mushrooms and spring flowers, a layered mouthfeel, more minerality than the explosive 2009 exhibited, outstanding ripeness and lots of personality. This is clearly a grand cru site owned by the Martinellis.
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Wine Spectator
Notably tight and reined-in, with fresh damp earth, forest floor and underbrush the dominant flavors at this point. Stiff tannins keep the olallieberry, wild berry and raspberry notes in check. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Drink now through 2022.
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.