Winemaker Notes
This Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is made from the very best section of the Côteaux Nobles vineyard, located on the eastern slope of the second ridge from the Pacific Ocean. This great and beautiful ("Joli") plot is at the very center of the ranch, its heart ("Cœur"). Handcrafted using classical Burgundian winemaking techniques, we named this age-worthy wine after the French expression which references the intriguing and attractive character of Pinot Noir. It is the 'Charming Character' or 'Joli Cœur.'
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The most mineral graphite-inflected of the wines in the Pinot Noir range, the 2022 Pinot Noir Joli Coeur is a ruby/magenta color and offers notes of dark cherries, mocha, lavender, and high-quality tea leaf. It’s long on the palate and has more plush richness compared to the 2021. It’s going to show very well over the coming 15 or more years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Morlet's 2022 Pinot Noir Joli Coeur is a bit less floral than the perfumed 2021, but it's still nicely aromatic, combining raspberries and rose petals on the nose. From an east-facing portion of the vineyard with shallow soils and smaller berries, it's medium to full-bodied in the mouth, more structured than Morlet's other 2022 Pinot Noirs, with a firm, lingering finish dusted with soft tannins.
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.