Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Plummy strawberry, blueberry and a voluptuous undertaking of baking spice combine effortlessly and with a great depth of flavor in this juicy, lengthy wine, full-bodied but retentive of enough acidity to complement the robust fruit and body.
-
Wine Spectator
Juicy and richly spiced, this feature luscious cassis and dark berry flavors backed by crisp acidity. Offers flinty accents midpalate, with a plush finish. Drink now through 2021.
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.