Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A mix of clones 37 and 777 from shallower, rocky soils, the 2017 Pinot Noir Mother Rock was mostly destemmed and brought up all in 50-60% new French oak. Not harvested until October 2, it offers a more ruby color as well as a Burgundian profile in its darker cherry, earth, spice, and underbrush aromas and flavors. More medium-bodied, silky and elegant, it's lightly textured, has moderate tannins, beautiful balance, and a clean finish. It shines for its incredible purity and elegance more than power and richness, and should evolve beautifully for over a decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Mother Rock is medium ruby-purple in color with a soft nose of strawberry and raspberry preserves, spiced cranberry sauce, rhubarb and pomegranate with stewed black tea leaves, moss-covered bark, crushed stone and rose petal with a classy framing of new oak spice. Medium-bodied, it has wonderfully concentrated, spiced fruits in the mouth with a sturdy frame of grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing very long and full of flavor.
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.