Winemaker Notes
Opens with a laser beam of purple fruits, cassis, and blueberry – all energized by the wine’s bright acidity and gravelly minerality. A very precise, tightly wound wine with superb concentration. The multifaceted, satin-like finish lingers long in the mouth, bursting with vibrant purple flavors.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The purity of the 2019 Pinot Noir Occidental Station Vineyard evokes the resonating tone of a tuning fork and offers the same satisfaction every time I open a bottle. On the nose, a well of dark red fruit is complemented by pure, detailed accents of licorice, lavender, bergamot, tea leaves and iron. The light-bodied palate is tremendously concentrated for its slender frame—vertical acidity and powdery tannins are knit into luxurious waves of spicy, floral fruit. It finishes with an impressive flourish of iron and spice and will be very long lived in the cellar.
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.