“The best wines from this vineyard have shown glimmers of grand cru sophistication and this 2009 develops in a way that parallels a great Burgundy.”

“This wine stands apart for its clear focus, a clean presentation of Sonoma’s far coast.”

Described as  “Lithe raspberry and cranberry flavors…” the Camp Meeting Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir is from high density, meter by meter spaced vines that recently turned 20 years old.

“Tightly knit with firm fresh earth-laced tannins…”

“Tight and vibrant with dense ripe berry…”

“This is consistently one of the most delicate and restrained Pinots you’ll find in California….”

The team at Flowers blends this from estate fruit grown on the far coast around Fort Ross with selected lots from vineyards in the Russian River Valley, consistently producing one of the most graceful pinot noirs in the New Word. In 2007, the wine has a brisk foresty scent, bright red fruit in the middle and delicacy to the tannic weave.

California’s Sonoma Coast winegrowing region – the true Sonoma Coast – isn’t new, yet it’s evolving so repidly, it seems as if it was born yesterday. I’m not talking about the Sonoma Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), establishing in 1987, which is an enourmous 200,000ha (hectares), a quilt of soil types, weathers and elevations spread over coastal Mendocino County on the north.

For those of us who follow Pinot Noir worldwide these are happy times. Pinot Noir is booming. California now has as much Pinot Noir acreage as Burgundy.

2006 Sonoma Coast McDougal Ranch Pinot Noir. Warren Dutton helped the McDougall family plant nine acres of pinot noir in 1998; their ranch is just north of David Hirsch’s vineyard, with vine-covered ridges that top out around 1,000 feet. At that altitude, the pinot lives just above the fog, where it grew in 2006 to optimal maturity– vibrant in both color and flavor, dark and savory, with a lift in the end.

Pinot noir’s place on American restaurant tables in now firmly established: It’s second only to cabernet sauvignon in popularity. And even in Napa Valley, home of cabernet sauvignon, Rob Renteria at the Martini House in St. Helena says pinot noir is the fastest moving variety on his list.

What will you order tonight? Today’s restaurant market for wine is the most diverse that we’ve seen in 19 years of reporting out Annual Restaurant Poll. That fact can be seen on the Top 50 list, where Champagne, Chianti, ad Italian pinot grigio have all moved into the top ten, traditional territory of Napa Valley cabernet and California chardonnay.

Walt and Joan Flowers have spent the last 15 years building a wine company from the ground up. They picked the right moment: buying timberland on the far coast before it became a chic vineyard development producing pinot noir before anyone thought to make a movie out of it. Dumb luck?