Winemaker Notes
Notes of rose petals, orange rinds and raspberries.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast offers a solid bouquet of spiced black cherries, darker currants, forest floor, and leafy herbs. With no noticeable oak, a touch of stems, and a long, nicely textured, medium-bodied style, it's going to drink nicely for 4-6 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Juicy and shimmering in wild strawberry, pomegranate and orange peel, this is a crisp and persistently fresh red wine, evocative of its cool-climate bona fides. With length and balance, it intrigues in whispers of black tea, cardamom and white pepper.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Red Car Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is lovely, bright, and pure. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits compelling aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and savory spices. Pair it with lightly-spiced, grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: March 18, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.