Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Slowly unfolding its savory herb, cola, wild berry and spice attributes, this gains depth and nuance, ending with a pleasing mix of complex flavors. Drink now through 2016.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, which is a blend from two sites, Rodgers Creek and Keller Estate, is another wine made from the modern clones 115, 777, 667 as well as the older Pommard selection. More sassafras/rootbeer notes intermixed with herbs, flowers and berry fruit make for a complex, cool-climate impression aromatically, and a good, fleshy, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, with more spice and earthiness, jump from the glass. Winemaker Erich Bradley seems to have the Midas touch with the beautifully opulent, round and generous texture he builds into these wines without any sense of weightiness. Purity and nicely integrated wood, tannin and acidity are also admirable. This wine should drink well for 5-6 years.
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.