Winemaker Notes
Barrel selection blend showcases a unique expression of the Sonoma coast. Fresh, ripe red fruit, strawberry, and cranberries envelop the soft, floral nose. The full-bodied wine was fermented in puncheon barrels from the finest French oak and some micro-open top fermenters. Finishes with silky tannins and the perfect integration of acidity.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Slightly darker cherries, sappy, peppery herbs, baking spices, and loamy soil notes all emerge from the 2022 Pinot Noir Super Chill, another incredibly seamless, silky, layered 2022 that has ripe tannins and flawless balance.
-
Decanter
100% Pinot Noir from the West Sonoma Coast. Whole berries are fermented in open-top tanks and puncheons, with a mix of Demptos and Taransaud barrels crafted from blonde, tight-grained wood from the Vosges forest. The wine is bottled unfined. This is a fabulously plush and decadent Pinot Noir, unabashedly buzzing with joy and indulgence. It’s your Dude Abides Pinot Noir—warm, sweet spices, elegant cedarwood notes, star anise, and black liquorice combined with hedonistic, cocoa-tinged tobacco. Fabulous cranberry and blood orange fruits mingle with juicy layers of dark chocolate, saddle leather, and roasted meats. It’s the perfect steakhouse Pinot Noir. In 2019, Jayson Woodbridge of Hundred Acre began producing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir under the Summer Dreams label, using fruit from cool-climate vineyards on the extreme Sonoma Coast.
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.