Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pinot Noir Sonatera Vineyard is defined by its floral, rose and mint-driven personality. Christmas spice, boysenberry and exotic fruit qualities all lend a supporting role, and it’s medium-bodied, juicy and seamless on the palate, with a hard-to-resist personality. Enjoy bottles over the coming 4-5 years.
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Wine Spectator
Focused on pure, rich and firm blackberry, spice, cedar and crushed rock notes, this is a vibrant, structured Pinot, with firm tannins and excellent length. The acidity and tannins give this backbone and structure. Drink now through 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dryness, tannins and acidity characterize this Pinot Noir. They make it severe, but there’s a huge heart of raspberries that makes it score high on the deliciousness factor. You can certainly enjoy it now, but it will evolve until 2020. Cellar Selection
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.