Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The only wine to see some whole clusters, the 2016 Pinot Noir SWK Vineyard is one of the more structured, backward wines in the lineup. It reveals a deeper ruby color as well as a complex bouquet of darker raspberries, earth, graphite, and smoky notes. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it has great balance and concentration as well as building tannins. It's another classy, age-worthy wine from Steve Kistler that's going to benefit from bottle age and keep for 10-15 years or more. It ranks with the top wines of the vintage. Rating: 98+
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir SWK Vineyard offers a strong sense of place and a chiseled structure that will allow it to be very long lived in the cellar. The nose is reminiscent of the forest and the sea, its wild cherry fruit accented by wafts of mushrooms, fennel, tobacco, saline and seaweed, and it becomes more floral as it airs in the glass. The palate is bursting with layer after layer of salty red fruit. It’s structured by powdery tannins and lip-smacking acidity and has a long, dynamic finish. Rating: 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.