Winemaker Notes
Deep purplish ruby with lush berry aromas. Minerality combines nicely with full-bodied fruit flavors plus woody/forest floor spice. Sweet tannin's and an intensely long finish make this wine compels, year after year.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard has sweet berry fruit, roasted herbs, incense, a touch of background wood spice and foresty notes all present in this medium-bodied, slightly lighter style of Pinot Noir from Marcassin. This was a challenging vintage, but the wines turned out outstanding, and very Burgundian. The alcohol is 13.9%, which is one of their lowest sugar levels. The wine presents a very attractive, moderately intense perfume, good acidity and excellent precision. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
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Wine Spectator
Offers a distinctive cloak of smoky, toasty oak, with mature, medium-weight notes of cherry-scented herb, beet root and savory underbrush. Gains depth and nuance on the aftertaste, lingering pleasantly. Drink now. 1,200 cases made.
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.