2018 Fort Ross Pinot Noir Fort Ross Vineyard Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Too cold. Too steep. Too tough to farm. That’s what the old guard told Lester and Linda Schwartz when they purchased the site for Fort Ross Vineyard in 1988. Yet they carried on, undaunted.

“The Extreme Sonoma Coast” is a phrase that is overused, but the drama of Fort Ross Vineyard is why it was invented. As we looked off the deck of the winery tasting room last year, the vineyard dropped out of sight below us. The massive redwoods towered up, all the while the mighty Pacific offered its unadulterated wind energy, untouched for thousands of miles. In 2018, this blustery, marginal climate delivered a Pinot that reflects this startling setting in thrilling detail.

Fast-forward three decades from Fort Ross’s founding. Pinot powerhouses like Marcassin, RAEN, and Wayfarer have flocked in, regularly crafting $100+ bottles from Lester and Linda’s windblown section of the Sonoma Coast. This newfound prestige has not just earned Fort Ross-Seaview recognition as an official AVA—it’s led Wine Enthusiast to name it “Sonoma Coast’s New A-List Wine Region.” 

For more than twenty vintages, Fort Ross has been one of the AVA’s quality leaders, and their 2018 estate Pinot shows that the riskier the site, the bolder and more complex the wine can be. Grown just one mile from the Pacific—closer than any other vineyard in California—it’s teeming with red and black cherries, plus hints of dark cola, violets, and a kiss of licorice, giving off tones of wildflowers and black tea toward the long finish.  

Robert Parker once called Fort Ross’s wines “impressive Burgundian-style Pinot Noirs that merit serious attention.” This wine shows why.