Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2012 Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard shows the most oak, yet has gorgeous purity of fruit and ample concentration. Framboise, caramelized cherries, and strawberries notes give way to a fresh, elegant, yet concentrated Pinot Noir that has tons of mid-palate depth and a rounded, delicious texture. Like all the 2012s, it’s a riper, more exuberant, and hedonistic wine and is going to deliver the goods through at least 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep ruby-purple in color, the 2012 Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard has an understated earthy/meaty nose over a core of dried mulberries and kirsch plus a waft of potpourri. Medium to full-bodied, there is a generous amount of savory and red berry preserves flesh filling the palate, with soft, velvety tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with a bit of spiciness coming through.
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Wine Enthusiast
An estate blend of 12 different clones, this dark ruby wine is bristling in acidity and swirling in flavors of strawberry, cherry and wild fennel. Well integrated and concentrated, it offers a fully balanced, elegant expression of the site. It provides a perfect introduction to the winery's lineup of site-specific Pinots. Start here and delve deeper; this wine is both a preview of and statement of more to come.
Editors' Choice
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Wine Spectator
Offering aromas of cedar, graphite, stem and dried berry, this is very compact, dense and chewy, slowly unfolding on the finish and revealing a more supple, graceful texture. Drink now through 2022.
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.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.