Winemaker Notes
Coming from a handful of sites and brought up in 10% new French oak, the Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is a beautiful wine from this producer. Spiced black cherries, darker framboise, flowery incense, and baking spice notes all emerge from the glass, and it's medium-bodied, fresh, and lively on the palate, yet with deceptive richness and length.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Raspberries, red cherries and red flowers followed by blanched almonds, toast and dried orange. Medium-bodied, refreshing acidity and velvety tannins. Harmonious and sound wine. Great drinkability.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast offers notes of cranberry cocktail and coniferous pine. The palate is medium-bodied, with a silky texture. The wine reveals a hint of warming spice, along with tangy pomegranate that adds some snap to the finish. Drink this over the next 6 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple, the 2020 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast has slowly opening aromas of rhubarb, cinnamon, dried cranberries, citrus peel and autumnal spices. The light-bodied palate is silky and refreshing with delicate, nuanced fruits and a spicy 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.