Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Pinot Noir Joy Road Vineyard takes things up a notch in its spice profile. It pours a jeweled ruby color and is fresh with notes of toasted incense and fresh raspberries. It’s medium-bodied, with an elegant, pure feel, a lot of clarity, refreshing acidity, and a clean, stony finish.
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Wine Spectator
Its hard to lay off this already, with raspberry and boysenberry compote notes that unfurl steadily, leading through the flattering finish, which shows flashes of black tea and rose hip. Offers the succulence of the vintage, too, which allows the fruit to linger steadily. Drink now through 2033. 425 cases made.
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.