Winemaker Notes
A truly delicious example of what the Sonoma Coast can produce. Strawberry fruit, spice and floral notes are just the beginning. Bold, dark cherry rides consistently on the palate with very balanced tannins that give an almost white pepper component to the wine. Great, subtle acidity is balanced by smooth vanilla and baking spice.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of red cherries, wild raspberries and vanilla-dusted, spiced biscuit, make for an attractive young pinot on the nose. The palate has a very silky, plush and vibrant array of accurately pitched tannins that expand in flavorful style at the finish. Excellent depth and concentration. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir Terra de Promissio Vineyard opens with fragrant earth and dried herbs notions over a core of red cherries, pomegranate, rhubarb and underbrush plus a waft of mossy bark. Light to medium-bodied with great freshness and understated, earthy flavors, it has a fine-grained frame and mineral-laced finish.
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.