Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is undeniably bright and succulently layered, bursting in flavors of fresh raspberry and strawberry and a chaser of tangerine. Elements of vanilla, nutmeg and forest floor play around the edges, with acidity that lingers on the finish. Editors’ Choice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Coastlands Vineyard has a medium ruby-purple color and inviting aromas of crushed peppercorn, laurel, forest floor, raspberries and rhubarb with amaro layers. Light to medium-bodied, the palate slowly spreads its wings to beautifully bitter, earth-laced fruits, with a gentle salty tang, a firm, grainy and very fresh frame and long finish.
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.