Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of crushed raspberries, brambleberries, violets, orange zest and dried herbs. It’s medium-to full-bodied with sleek, fine tannins. Wonderfully bright, succulent and flavorful with mineral and saline hints on the finish. Delicious. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is another pretty, perfumed, incredibly elegant wine from this estate, offering lots of mulled red and black fruits, toasted spices, and exotic flower-like aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has some classic Sonoma Coast foresty conifer tree-like nuances, building tannins, and outstanding length as well. This is a Pinot Noir for those who favor elegance and complexity over richness and power.
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.