Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
David Low makes this wine from a vineyard in Occidental, 8.5 acres of Goldridge and sandy loam soils. Rising to 652 feet, it’s an exposed, windy site producing a lean and lithe pinot noir with sour cherry flavors, rocky tannins and lasting scents of mint and pressed roses. This glistens like salt spray on sandstone, a Pacific wine to decant for meaty roast fish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Crushed rose petal and lavender open the aromatic nose of this lovely wine, which is light bodied and delicately crafted. The midpalate evolves quietly to reveal earthy forest, cardamom and a tang of blood orange.
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.