Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A few 2012 Pinot Noirs had been bottled and were tasted, including their largest cuvee (15,700 cases), the 2012 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. This beauty is a real steal in terms of high quality at a reasonable price. Deep ruby, this exuberant, delicious Pinot offers up notes of roasted herbs, forest floor, plum sauce and black cherries followed by a deep, rich, full-bodied, round and luscious wine. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.
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Tasting Panel
Silky and juicy with bright cherry and tangy acidity; fresh and bright with lively flavors and good balance; long and racy, vibrant and crisp.
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Wine Enthusiast
It’s hard to imagine any Pinot Noir being richer or riper than this one, which is made from a blend of vineyards from throughout the county’s cooler areas. It’s explosive with jammy raspberries, cherries, boysenberries and pomegranates, along with plenty of new French oak for buttery, toasty complexities. It will hold for a year or three.
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.