Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another winner is the 2012 Pinot Noir Jenkins Ranch. Deep ruby/plum-colored with loads of damp earth, steak tartare, bouquet garni and black raspberries, this wine exhibits good sweetness, plenty of glycerin, but a nice, vibrant mouthfeel with uplifting acidity and well-integrated tannin.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a forceful and powerful wine from a vineyard site in the producer’s portfolio since 2005. Broad-shouldered, it offers juicy strawberry and pomegranate expressive of a ripe, picture-perfect vintage. It also manages to retain a pretty, floral characteristic and a depth of dried herb, clove and peppery spice, particularly on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Delivers a tight, juicy beam of red and dark berry flavors, with shades of anise and cedar, gaining depth and fanning out on the finish where the flavors commingle and the tannins impart traction. Drink now through 2021.
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.