Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Mushroom, forest floor, fresh turned earth and mineral notes give this a solid baseline of earthy flavors that provide traction on the full-bodied palate, offering wild berry and raspberry hints while maintaining its pleasing earthy texture and flavor.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Take, for example, the 2005 Pinot Noir Three Sisters. Plum, sweet red and black currants, forest floor, and fresh porcini mushrooms are present in this wine, which has fabulous concentration, sweet tannins, a broad, savory mouthfeel, and tremendous length.
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.