Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This striking, fresh and linear wine is so vivid in crisp acidity, red berries and blackcurrants. Lively on the palate, offering moderate tannins to support focused raspberries, tart cherries and woodsy, smoky accents that open up in the glass. Medium-bodied, super well balanced and appetizing. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir West Sonoma Coast has pure aromas of red cherry, pomegranate, wildflowers, forest floor and bitters. The medium-bodied palate is powerful and energetic. Its crunchy red fruit flavors are structured by lacy tannins and vibrant, mouthwatering acidity, and it has a long, expressive finish.
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Wine Spectator
This has lovely juicy energy, with hibiscus-laced black cherry and mulberry fruit that drives along nicely, infused through the finish with black tea and a sparkle of anise. Well-defined, pure and almost breezy in feel.
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.