Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the reds, the 2019 Kashaya Pinot Noir was two-thirds destemmed and brought up in one-third new French oak. Notes of wild strawberries, raspberries, flowers, and integrated stems define the nose, and it’s medium-bodied, balanced, and has considerable elegance on the palate.
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Wine Spectator
An alluring, perfumed style, with red tea, sandalwood and savory notes leading the way, followed by lightly mulled raspberry and blood orange fruit. The long finish lets the fruit sail through, with a nice sense of detail.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Unlike many of the other wines at Relic—and this is a useful point of difference—the 2019 Pinot Noir Kashaya is a more delicate, understated wine. The cherries and raspberries are present but not in your face; the one-third new French oak eases gently into the background. This is very much about elegance and finesse, not richness, depth or power—it's a pretty wine with a silky feel and decent length.
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.