Experience Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2012
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Other Vintages
2013-
Wine
Enthusiast
Experience is the dream of Catherine and Travis Vale. Travis was born and raised in the Russian River Valley of California’s Sonoma Coast. He first worked a harvest in 1998, falling in love with the sights and sounds of a working winery. The daughter of a master brewer, Catherine was born and raised in London.
The two met in 2001 while both were traveling in New Zealand. Travis was furthering his education in the cooler climate growing regions of Marlborough. Catherine was finishing up a six-month tour of Southeast Asia and Australia. The tour bus they shared was aptly named the Kiwi Experience New Zealand. “That chance meeting far from our homes was a turning point in our lives,” says Catherine.
In 2010, they purchased an 8-acre vineyard estate in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley, now the source of Trail 3150 Red Wine Blend, and launched a new wine brand.
Naming the fledgling wine Experience seemed a perfect fit.
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.