2017 San Andreas Fault Estate Pinot Noir
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Starting off the 2017s, the 2017 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault is another relatively large production cuvée by this estate's standards, with just under 4,000 cases. A perfumed, medium-bodied, beautifully elegant Pinot Noir, it has classic Sonoma Coast aromas and flavors, with lots of spiced cherries, strawberries, sappy herbs, and floral notes defining the bouquet. As with all of Hirsch's Pinot Noirs, it's more mid-weight, yet it still carries a vibrancy and tension that's going to age beautifully.
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James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
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The 2017 Pinot Noir Estate San Andreas Fault is a pretty wine to drink now and over the next handful of years. Sweet red cherry, dried flowers, spice and blood orange all flesh out in the glass. There is a good bit of up front fruit, but the wine's persistence tapers off a bit on the mid-palate and finish. Overall, the 2017 comes across as pretty straightforward. I would prefer to drink it young.
This is the largest production cuvée in the Hirsch portfolio. Pale to medium ruby, the 2017 Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault has a delicately played nose with touches of cinnamon stick, dried leaves, perfumed earth and a mineral vein plus rose petal perfume, red berries and black fruit sparks. The palate is light to medium-bodied with delicate intensity and well-balanced fruit and earth character, knit by grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing long and nuanced. 3,740 cases produced.
A homage to the great fault line near Hirsch, this pinot has a brambly, rich array of red cherries and some blue-fruit notes with fresh, sappy, forest aromas, too. The palate has plenty of punchy tannin and forthright, fresh, unwavering drive. Drink or hold.