Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This impressive wine is inviting in floral notes of violet and lavender, while also being pretty on the palate. White pepper adorns a lengthy thread of tangy red fruit, game and well-integrated oak; the wine is balanced in acidity.
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Wine Spectator
A handsome red, expressive and elegantly layered, with cherry and red currant flavors accented by rose petal and savory garrigue.
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Wine & Spirits
Tense and gamey, this is a brisk coastal red that takes time to emerge from the shadows of its oak aging. At first, the oak and fruit battle, sending the flavors into a muddle of green-hued coffee beans. But a day later the oak recedes revealing a wash of mineral tannins and red fruit. Decant it if you open the bottle now, to serve with roast squab.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.