Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Golden Mean is similarly ruby-hued yet offers a more mineral, savory, iron-laced style as well as beautiful strawberry and raspberry fruit, medium-bodied richness, and building yet ripe, polished tannins that carry through the finish. The purity and precision on this puppy are something, and as with the other 2019s here, short-term cellaring is the name of the game.
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James Suckling
An inviting nose of sweet red fruit, fresh herbs and colored flowers. Full-bodied with well-integrated tannins and lovely, bright saltiness. Black pepper and earth on the palate. Brooding and delicious. Excellent depth. Drink now or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a rich, exotic and tannic wine, brimming in forest tones and wild blackberry. Aromas of violet provide an inviting backdrop against which the bigger elements of concentration and intensity are tamed. This wine will benefit from more time in bottle. Enjoy best from 2029–2034.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Pinot Noir Golden Mean comes from Swan and Pommard clone vines and was made with 15% whole cluster. Medium ruby-purple, it opens with touches of iodine that segue to rich black fruits and licorice. The palate is plush and silky with loads of floral character on the finish.
Rating: 95+ -
Wine Spectator
Sleek and racy in feel, with savory and mineral details underscoring cherry and raspberry fruit nicely. Offers a lingering rooibos tea hint on the finish. Drink now
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.