Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A sly, subtle wine delicate in profile and character, this has acidity as its main star, and also playing a few supporting parts. Rhubarb, cranberry and orange lie atop more savory specks of cardamom and tea.
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Wine & Spirits
This comes from a vineyard planted in the 1990s on the edge of the windy Petaluma Gap. Its clean dark cherry and black raspberry flavors feel sweet at first, until mouthwatering acidity pulls the wine into a tart finish. Pour it with leaner varieties of salmon, like sockeye.
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.