Winemaker Notes
The Pomarium blend is made from clones and blocks that capture dark fruit and earth flavors while also featuring high tone floral incense aromas. This offers a broad canvas and a balanced tension to the wine that makes it unique among wines from our area and from Pinot made, really, anywhere. As I have noted in the last 3 vintages, the quality of Pomarium has improved dramatically and is more complex, nuanced and downright delicious than ever before and 2017 continues this upward trend. The nose on the 2017 Pomarium is exotic with floral incense aromas enveloping a black tea and tobacco core. The floral quality counter balances the earthy notes and allows the fruit to emerge as a cohesive whole. The palate reveals the masculine side with dried leaf qualities, dark berry, blood/iron, and green peppercorn spice all held together by fine tannin's less grippy than in 2016. Pomarium is the most masculine of our Estate pinot noirs and is yummy now but will also reward bottle aging.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple, the 2017 Estate Pinot Noir Pomarium has delicate scents of tangerine peel, rosewater, licorice, tea leaves and tree bark with bright, fresh red berry fruits at the core. In the mouth, it’s medium-bodied and silky, slowly expanding to bright, bitters-laced fruits with bursts of juiciness, loads of nuance and a very long, ethereal finish. What a gorgeous expression!
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.