2014 Sea Slopes by Fort Ross Winery Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Where Côte de Beaune Meets Sonoma Coast

Fort Ross is one of the most magnificent vineyard properties on the Sonoma Coast. Robert Parker had tipped most enthusiasts off in his own rave of winemaker Jeff Pisoni’s “impressive Burgundian-style Pinot Noirs that merit serious attention,” and comment that “these are all impressive wines sold at extremely fair prices.” This 2014 Sea Slopes by Fort Ross Winery is 100 percent Pinot Noir drawn entirely from Fort Ross Vineyard, hand-harvested, row by row. Pisoni vinified the wine entirely in French cooperage, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Parker called it “fresh, lively,” and in a  “Côte de Beaune style,” suggesting it be enjoyed “over the next 5-7 years.” $35 per bottle from the winery. $25 today—the best price in the U.S.—on Wine Access.

In the Sonoma Coast’s prized Fort Ross-Seaview AVA—crowded with heavyweights like Peter Michael, Martinelli, Pahlmeyer, Hirsch, and Nobles—Fort Ross is a standout sensation.

Owners Lester and Linda Schwartz met as students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in the 1960s. Lester, the son of a lawyer and a farmer, was studying geology but would earn a degree in law, while Linda, a pianist and composer, majored in music composition and theory. The young couple shared a common interest in food and wine, and spent much of their limited budget on bottles crafted by small South African wineries.

Linda and Lester married in 1967. Nine years later, the couple moved to California.

In 1988, Lester was practicing law in San Francisco but pining for the country life he had so enjoyed as a young boy. He began to scour the coast in search of property where he could get back to the land. When he finally found a large swath of virgin acreage in the high coastal ridges up to 1,800 feet in elevation, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, above the old Russian settlement of Fort Ross, Schwartz was smitten. In the months that followed, Lester and Linda purchased the land.

Three years later, in 1991, Lester ordered and planted two dozen dormant rootstocks. When those initial plantings proved successful, Linda enrolled in a viticulture program in Santa Rosa. She bought an old backhoe, a bulldozer, and other heavy equipment and, with Lester as the operator, planted an experimental vineyard with 16 different varieties, three different trellis systems, assorted clones, and different rootstocks. After four years, they concluded that the area was ideal for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and in 1994 began installing the first seven vineyard blocks.

Over the next decade, the Schwartzes poured time and resources into Fort Ross. With the help of their small crew, they installed subsurface drainage systems. They built a reservoir and a drip-irrigation system. Then they installed seven miles of fencing to keep out the deer and wild boar. Finally, after planting selected rootstocks, they field-grafted scion budwood of those field selections and clones that they had carefully chosen to best reflect the terroir of each vineyard block.

In 2009, their efforts paid off when they caught the attention of one of the most critically acclaimed winemakers on the coast. Jeff Pisoni was offered a glass of the 2007 Fort Ross Pinot Noir while dining at the Ritz-Carlton. Pisoni has a brilliant palate. He’s also an impossibly difficult critic, always seeming to find fault in his own wines when experienced tasters find none. Jeff was blown away “by the luscious fruit, fine minerality, and crisp acidity” of the estate-grown Fort Ross Pinot Noir. Curious about the vineyard from which the wine was drawn, Jeff put in a call to Lester Schwartz. It wouldn’t be long before Lester lured Jeff to Fort Ross.

The 2014 Sea Slopes Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast by Fort Ross Winery is drawn entirely from Fort Ross Vineyard, hand-harvested, row by row, between September 2nd and September 23rd. Pisoni vinified the wine entirely in French cooperage, and bottled the 2014 “Sea Slopes” unfined and unfiltered. Parker called it “fresh, lively,” and in a  “Côte de Beaune style,” before suggesting it be enjoyed “over the next 5-7 years."

- Wine Access Wine Team