Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Here's a dark, dense Pinot, brooding under its cloak of tannins and acids. It's absolutely dry, with intense cherry pie, cola, root beer and oak flavors. If you drink it now without decanting, you'll find a tough, hard wine. Let it breathe for a day, and it will begin to suggest its charms. Or let it develop naturally in the cellar for six years.
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Wine Spectator
Tightly wound, intense without being overbearing, with dense mineral, black cherry and wild berry. Sharply focused and deeply concentrated, the finish is rich and persistent, with wonderful detail and length.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The acidic flavors of the deep ruby/purple-colored 2003 Pinot Noir Peay Vineyard are accompanied by cranberry, raspberry, red currant, and cold steel characteristics. Clearly a cool climate Pinot with striking minerality, high acidity, and a pure, delineated style, it should age for a decade or more.
Rating: 91+
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.