Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is light on the palate, almost airy. The official alcohol reading is under 14%. Yet it packs the power of the world's greatest reds. Wild cherries and raspberries, with impossibly complex mocha, cola, anise, cinnamon and other flavors impossible to describe but endlessly fascinating. Gorgeous now, and should evolve for at least six years.
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Wine & Spirits
From a small, dry-farmed vineyard on a ridge above the fogline near Fort Ross, this far-coast pinot is consistently one of Williams Selyem's top wines. The generous yields in 2006 and the warmth of the summer make this a more languid and saturated pinot than Precious Mountain usually gives, but the bright raspberry-red flavors keep it potent and fresh. That bolt of red is layered with rich bottom notes of earthy tannin and lighter floral hints of strawberries. Delicious with a tuna steak seared rare.
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.