Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wonderful perfumes with blackberry, cherry and cloves. Violet. Full body, extremely focused and clear fruit. Bright and vivid. Crunchy and juicy. Precise and fruity. Love the layers and flavors. Irresistible.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The production of the 2014 Pinot Noirs ranges from a low of 543 cases for the Clos du Ciel to a high of 1,227 cases for the Ma Danseuse. All of these Pinot Noirs are made from what is simply called a Vosne-Romanée clone, which is code, I expect, for a vineyard such as Romanée-Conti or La Tâche, but no one’s talking. The 2014 Pinot Noir Ma Danseuse is from the coldest of the three Sonoma Coast sites that are now part of the Ft. Ross-Seaview AVA and is their largest production cuvée. Plenty of forest floor, raspberry, black cherry and floral notes are present in this wine, which has seemingly put on a lot of weight and texture since I had it last year. This comes from a 1,000- to 1,300-foot elevation and the resulting Pinot is Burgundian, classic, rich and capable of lasting 15 or more years, possibly longer.
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.