Winemaker Notes
Intense raspberry, wild strawberry, forest floor and earthy notes (graphite), very rich and complex with a leathery lingering finish. Will age gracefully for over a decade.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Just a sensational Pinot Noir, the 2019 Pinot Noir En Famille comes from the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation in the northern part of Sonoma. It offers a lifted, beautiful perfume of ripe black cherries and black raspberries as well as candied violets, orange blossom, and sappy green flowers. More spice and leather notes emerge with time in the glass, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, soft, supple tannins, good acidity, and a great finish. It brings lots of classic Morlet fruit and pleasure while showing a pretty, nuanced, nicely focused style on the palate. It's gorgeous on all accounts.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The En Famille Pinot Noir comes from a vineyard planted in 1990 to Goldridge soils, right next door to the “Coteaux Nobles” vineyard in Fort Ross-Seaview. A barrel sample, the 2019 Pinot Noir En Famille displays a medium ruby-purple color and fragrant notes of freshly crushed black cherries, black raspberries and mulberries, plus hints of candied violets, chocolate box and spearmint. The full-bodied, richly fruited palate is packed with juicy black berry flavors, framed by plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering cool-mint note.
Rating: (94-96)+
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.