Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
his has never been my favorite Williams Selyem Pinot, but this is Bob Cabral’s best effort to date. Part of the reason, I think, is because 2004 was a warm vintage, and those coastal grapes need heat. The wine brims with cherries, cola, black raspberries, yet maintains that luscious coastal acidity. The mouthfeel is gorgeously silky and delicate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark ruby in color, the 2004 Pinot Noir Coastlands shows spicy oak, medium body, and hints of raspberries, damp earth, underbrush, and fresh mushrooms. The wine is pretty, with fine richness and depth and enough flesh to balance out the tart acids.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.