Winemaker Notes
The Pinot Noir for this blend was sourced from the Hirsch Vineyard, the Coastlands Vineyard and our Drake Estate Vineyard.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a triumph of blending, a cuvée that over-delivers on the sum of its parts, imparting a profile of raspberry strudel and juicy Bing cherry. With underpinnings of spicy cardamom, savory tones of forest and tea invite you further into the glass, finishing with a tease of dark chocolate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The pale to medium ruby-purple colored 2015 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast offers up notions of kirsch, red currant jelly and raspberry coulis with touches of fallen leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves. Medium-bodied with great freshness and vivacity in the mouth, it has soft, satiny tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a cinnamon toast note. 1,725 cases produced.
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.