Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Rose hips and red cherries abound here with a sappy edge, too. The palate has a bold, sweet-fruit core with plenty of succulent, fresh and layered tannin on offer. The plushness here is impressive, as is the direct serving of fruit flavor.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
By Duckhorn. Optimally ripened and emphatically fruity with an integral complement of vanillin oak augmenting its moderately intense cherry and raspberry aromas and flavors, this substantial, full-bodied working is little concerned with delicacy and detail and, is instead, a wine that is about straight-ahead richness. It is nominally tannic and may find a more elegant footing with age, but, even if not, it earns an enthusiastic, thumbs-up vote for its fruity abundance and depth.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an earthy, dense wine made from a range of expertly farmed vineyards like Running Creek. Black tea, cardamom and forest give it a savory character that's appealing and expansive on the palate, showing balanced richness and length.
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Wine Spectator
Well-framed flavors of raspberry tart, cherry and plum are supported by fine-grained tannins. Rose petal and hot stone notes combine for a sumptuous finish that lingers with a silky texture.
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.