Winemaker Notes
The 2015 vintage in Sonoma Coast is characterized by low yields but high quality, driven by a cool spring and a warm and sunny summer. Look for complex wines with excellent color and body.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Girded by fresh tart acidity, this medium-bodied red is awash in fleshy layers of blueberry, pomegranate and baking spice. Well integrated and richly rewarding, it shows a fuller-bodied sense of ripeness on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Features lots of rich, spicy overtones to the dark fruit flavors, which are led by plum tart and ripe cherry components. Chocolate accents emerge on the finely textured finish, with a dollop of raspberry ganache.
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.