Wine Advocate 95
 
Medium ruby-purple, the 2018 Pinot Noir Joy Road Vineyard opens with scents of cherry coulis, blueberries, blood orange and violet with a spicy, earthy undercurrent. It’s medium-bodied and silky in the mouth, offering up juicy, bitters-laced fruits and a very long, amaro-laced finish.
 
Joy Road Vineyard, situated just four miles from the ocean high above Occidental, really excels in the coolest vintages, which means this new release is near perfect. I love how the wine encompasses the entire red to black fruit spectrum. Vibrant and crunchy in its expression, it’s unmistakably Sonoma Coast in nature and brighter than our Russian River bottlings. It leads with the aromas and flavors of its immediate environment: the redwood forest, the neighboring Gravenstein orchard, the intense coastal sunlight and the cool night air.