Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pinot Noir Golden Mean comes mostly from the Swan clone yet includes plenty of Pommard as well. The cuvée comes from two parcels in the estate vineyard, is cofermented (with around 10% whole cluster), and spent15 months in 67% new French oak. It offers a more black fruited style with a huge nose of black cherries, scorched earth, charcoal, and just a hint of exotic flowers. Medium-bodied, rich, and structured, it’s another wine that builds with time in the glass. Give bottles 2-3 years and enjoy over the following decade.
Rating: 95+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From Pommard and Swan clones with zero whole cluster this year, the 2016 Pinot Noir Golden Mean is medium ruby-purple colored and sings of kirsch, mulberries, black cherries and cranberries with touches of cinnamon stick, red roses, black pepper and black tea plus a waft of mossy bark. Medium-bodied, the palate has beautiful tension with a firm frame of grainy tannins and tons of red and black fruit layers, finishing on a lingering mineral note.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.