Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Brooding in dark cherry and earthy spice, this fully figured wine offers well-integrated oak. With a savory and powerful profile, it has a forceful grip on the palate accented by black tea, truffle and juicy vibrancy. From a mix of Dijon clones (37 and 777), some fermented whole-cluster, this is a structured, wine from a meticulously farmed coastal site.
Cellar Selection -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2012 Pinot Noir Mother Rock is a classic example of this ripe, pedal-to-the-metal vintage. Lots of spice, black cherries, scorched earth and licorice characteristics flow to a beautifully ripe, sexy red that has a broad, expansive texture, impressive depth of fruit, sweet tannin and a great finish. Like most 2012s, it’s not for those craving lightweight aromas and flavors, but it’s impeccably balanced and one seriously good mouthful of Pinot Noir fruit!
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby in color, the 2012 Pinot Noir Mother Rock (made from Mt. Eden and 777 clones) is scented of aniseed, cumin seed and fennel over a core of kirsch and red plum preserves. Medium bodied, it has a firm structure of chewy tannins framing the exotic spice flavors, finishing savory.
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Wine Spectator
Well-centered on a potent core of dusty, earth-laced blackberry, cedar and crushed rock flavors, giving this a rustic texture. The fruit gushes through on the finish, showing a persistent density. Best from 2016 through 2024.
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.