Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
You can count on Pahlmeyer to deliver wines that are bold, big and dramatic no matter the variety, and that is exactly what you get in this ripe and substantial Pinot Noir. It is deep, outgoing and compelling in its aromas of chocolate-covered cherries, bacony oak and hints of liqueur-all of which might suggest a wine that is patently over the top. But, as with other Pahlmeyer offerings, this one is amazingly easy to drink, and its balance is both civil-ized and proportionate to its style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The newest baby for Green and Pahlmeyer is their Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast. The 2005 Pinot Noir is tasting beautifully. There are 1,500 cases of this wine, which has a deep ruby color, a superb nose of raspberries, crushed rocks, and some subtle background oak. It is full-bodied, ripe, generous, with some forest floor-like notes reminiscent of a top red Burgundy. Drink it over the next 5-7 years
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Wine Spectator
Smooth, rich and polished, with ripe plum, wild berry and spicy blackberry notes that are elegant and stylish. This is harmonious, long and silky on the finish. Drink now through 2011. 1,400 cases made.
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.