Fort Ross Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir (375ML half-bottle) 2017
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Wine
Spectator -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Suave, with a delicate mix of vibrant cherry, currant and huckleberry flavors that are backed by crunchy acidity. Shows minerally richness on the fine-textured finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lots of redcurrants, mulled cherries, and spicy, dried herb-like notes emerge from the 2017 Pinot Noir Fort Ross Vineyard, a medium-bodied, elegant Pinot Noir with ripe tannins and terrific overall balance. It shows the more savory, concentrated style of the vintage and is an outstanding, complex 2017 to enjoy over the coming 7-8 years or so.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Scented of cranberries and red and black cherries with nuances of charcuterie, dusty earth and woodsmoke, the 2017 Pinot Noir Estate Fort Ross Vineyard has a light to medium-bodied palate with a good interplay of fruit, earth and meaty nuance. It has a grainy, fresh frame and finishes long.
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James Suckling
Super perfumed and complex, this has such richly spiced red-cherry aromas with a gently earthy edge, too. The palate holds a taut core of fine tannin that sweeps up plenty of ripe red-cherry flavor. Drink or hold.
Other Vintages
2016-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
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Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker -
Wilfred
Wong
Nestled on a sunny coastal ridge, overlooking the Pacific Ocean a mile below, Fort Ross'"True Sonoma Coast" vineyard is one of the closest, if not the closest, to the ocean in all of California. From the vineyard you can see the breaking surf and the misty silhouettes of Bodega Head and Pt. Reyes far below. The vineyard's high elevation above the coastal fog and its proximity to the ocean provide a gentle, sunny and temperate climate that has proved to be very favorable for the slow and even ripening of Burgundian varietals.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.