Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Brought up in 67% new French oak, the 2018 Pinot Noir Mother Rock has more mineral-laced, cassis, black raspberry, toasted spice, graphite, and violet aromas and flavors. Full-bodied and pure, with silky tannins and a magical texture, it shows incredible purity of fruit as well as flawless balance. This is one of the finest Pinot Noir I was able to taste for this report, and it's going to evolve beautifully for a solid 8-10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Mother Rock has a medium ruby color an alluring perfume of blood orange, lilac, garrigue, boysenberries and dried cranberries, more and more nuances arriving with time in the glass. The medium-bodied palate is a wonderland of flavor layers supported by ripe tannins and loads of juicy acidity, finishing very long with intense, kaleidoscopic flavors. What a beauty!
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.