Winemaker Notes
Intense red and black cherry and raspberry coulis flavors with earthy notes (graphite), rich and concentrated with a lingering finish. Will age gracefully for decades.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From thinner, shale, east-facing slopes, 2017 Pinot Noir Joli Coeur is wonderfully complete and balanced, with complexity, elegance, and power all present in this thrilling bottle of wine. Black raspberries, graphite, sandalwood, and crushed rock nuances all flow to a medium to full-bodied effort that has nothing out of place, polished tannins, and integrated acidity. This is one of those wines that builds and grows on you with time in the glass, and it’s a remarkable effort in 2017. Drink it over the coming decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Joli Coeur Pinot Noir comes from the “sweet spot” within the Coteaux Nobles and En Famille vineyards in Fort Ross-Seaview AVA. Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir Joli Coeur comes rolling out of the glass with fragrant notes of chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries and raspberry tart plus nuances of lilacs, underbrush, mossy bark and wild mushrooms. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-filling red berry and earthy layers, framed by electric acidity and lovely, ripe, grainy tannins, finishing very long.
Rating: 97+
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.