Winemaker Notes
Located on a coastal ridge just five miles from the Pacific Ocean, the remote site experiences substantial diurnal temperature shifts yielding wines characterized by their tension, structure, and precision of fruit. Our second vintage shows deep ruby and lifted aromas of fresh violet, Bing cherry, and hint of sea salt. The texture is focused with silky tannins and well-defined flavors of blueberry, orange peel, savory thyme and Asian spices that are accompanied by an abundance of acidity that follows through the long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a glorious red with density and compressed character to the mouthfeel. Pure and very focused with crushed berries, orange peel and sandalwood. Edgeless. Exciting. Tight, yet so characterful and great. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Goldrock Estate, still in barrel, is pale to medium ruby-purple in color and slowly unfurls to scents of smoked cranberries, toast, dried coconut, boysenberry preserves, orange peel and dried herbs with a core of red, blue and black berries. Medium-bodied and silky textured, it’s broody in the mouth with a firm, grainy frame and well-integrated freshness, finishing very long and hinting at more to come. This seems to be developing a bit slower than the rest of the range, but it's just as promising. 750 cases are expected to be made, to be released in August 2020.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
Ripe and intense, with broad-brushed flavors of dark plum, blackberry and cherry tart that are lathered in exotic spiciness. Mocha and dark chocolate details show on the plush, creamy finish. Drink now through 2024.
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.