Fort Ross Vineyard spotlight
2023 Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, USA
Jeff Pisoni's Fort Ross-Seaview Pinot, ridge-top fruit a mile from the Pacific, a 2023 you can open at twenty-four dollars.
The 2023 estate Pinot is a blend of heritage clones from steep marine-influenced blocks: black raspberry, pressed flowers, sweet sage, and forest earth, now $24.
Ridge Pinot with ocean tension, not a Russian River fruit bowl
Fort Ross Vineyard sits on the same ridge as the Chardonnay, less than a mile from the Pacific, 1,200 to 1,700 feet, 33 small blocks of heritage clones. Audrey Frick at Jeb Dunnuck scored the 2023 Fort Ross-Seaview Pinot 96: black raspberries, pressed flowers, sweet sage, forest earth, compact structure, savory mineral, drink 2026 to 2040. Twenty-four dollars is half the typical retail on a true-coast Pinot.
The house
Lester and Linda Schwartz planted this ridge in 1994 on land first cultivated by Russian settlers in 1817. Jeff Pisoni ferments native, punches down by hand, and ages in French oak.
The wine
100% estate Pinot Noir. Night harvest, cold soak, open-top ferment, native yeast, French oak. A blend of blocks, not a single-clone stunt.
The scores
Jeb Dunnuck 96. Black raspberry, flowers, sage, forest earth, compact structure, elegant length.
The drinker
Serve 55 to 58 F. Open 20 minutes ahead. Herb-roasted salmon or duck with berry.
Black raspberry, sage, then forest earth
Frick poured a ruby 2023, ripe on the nose with black raspberries, pressed flowers, sweet sage, and forest earth. Medium to full, compact, savory mineral accents, fantastic elegant length, real tension. The house language for these Pinots is tart black raspberry, wild plum, underbrush, and oceanic salinity.
A drought-busting winter, late budbreak, and a cool season that still ripened Pinot with coastal acidity intact. The 2023 is built to start around 2026 and run toward 2040.
Black raspberry, wild plum, pressed flowers, sweet sage, forest earth, underbrush.
Medium to full, compact tannin, savory mineral, coastal acidity.
Long, tense, saline. Serve 55 to 58 F. Twenty minutes of air.
Small blocks, native ferment, a gentle hand
Pisoni's Pinot brief is observation first. Blocks are picked in cool hours into small trays. Fruit is hand-sorted, destemmed, cold-soaked, then fermented in open tops with punch-downs. Native yeast. Shortly after pressing the wine goes to new and neutral French oak. The estate Pinot is a blend of those blocks so the ridge reads as one wine: fruit, sage, forest, salt.
Pinot is planted on the leaner Hugo soils. Yields stay small. Berry size stays small. That is the coastal concentration without heat.
Serve 55 to 58 F. Salmon and duck pull black raspberry and sage through the mineral line.
A South African couple, a Russian ridge, a Pacific Pinot
Lester and Linda Schwartz claimed this ridge in 1994 and spent four years preparing ground too steep for anyone in a hurry.
Grape growing here started with the Russian settlement at Fort Ross in 1817. The modern AVA is tiny: a few hundred acres of vines on ridgetops that sit above the fog.
The Schwartzes still farm the 51-acre vineyard as a necklace of half-acre to two-acre blocks. Jeff Pisoni walks them with the owners before each pick.
The 2023 Pinot is that place in a cool year: black raspberry, sage, forest earth, ninety-six points, twenty-four dollars.
Salmon, herbs, then duck with berry
Coastal Pinot is a bridge wine. Red enough for duck, fresh enough for salmon. A berry sauce mirrors the fruit without turning the plate sweet.
Two plates. One herb-roasted salmon. One duck breast with berry. Both can take coastal Pinot tannin and sage.
Serve 55 to 58 F. Open 20 minutes ahead. A brief decant if you want more perfume.
Herb-Roasted Salmon with Pinot Noir Sauce
Tarragon, thyme, and a Pinot reduction. True-coast Pinot's fish plate.
Why it works: Silky tannin handles the fish. Black raspberry and sage brighten the sauce.
View Recipe for herb-roasted salmon with Pinot Noir sauce (opens in a new tab)
Duck Breast with Blackberry Sauce
Crisp-skinned duck and a berry sauce. The richer plate for forest earth and flower.
Why it works: Duck fat softens compact tannin. Blackberry mirrors black raspberry without burying the mineral line.
View Recipe for duck breast with blackberry sauce (opens in a new tab)Put Fort Ross Pinot in the cart
Fort Ross-Seaview Pinot Noir, Jeb Dunnuck 96, a mile from the Pacific. Twenty-four dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is ridge-top Pinot from California's closest vineyard to the ocean, priced to open.
