Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Pinot Noir Mother Rock is a dark magenta color and comes from shallow soils, giving a more mineral character to the wine, with a sanguine lift to its notes of gravelly earth, pine, black raspberries, compact berries, peppery spice, and rosemary. Medium-bodied, it has a saturating and pure feel, with ripe tannins, mouthwatering tension, pure, shining fruit, bright violet highlights, and dark mineral notes that last on the finish. Drink it over the coming 15-20 years.
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James Suckling
Aromas of crushed stones, lavender, rose petals, fresh herbs and pine resin. It’s medium-bodied with a solid core of fruit, fine tannins and a creamy, polished, super-crunchy finish. Fresh raspberries at the end. Drinkable now, but better in a few years.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and packed, with mulberry, boysenberry and loganberry coulis notes melded together. There’s a sleek feel to the structure, which is well-embedded, letting the fruit hold center stage with aplomb. The finish shimmers with singed anise, blood orange zest and rooibos tea accents. A head-turning Pinot Noir. Best from 2026 through 2038.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From grapes harvested on October 5, the 2023 Pinot Noir Mother Rock has intoxicating aromas of raspberry, pomegranate and blood orange, and it releases undertones of earth, conifer, charcuterie and rose petals as it airs in the glass. The palate is just as compelling, offering concentrated flavors that segue from berry and flowers to citrus and spice. It’s framed by soft, powdery tannins and vibrant acidity and finishes with a flourish of spicy accents.
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.