Bernardus Monterey County Pinot Noir 2011
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Robert
Parker
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Our 2011 Monterey Pinot Noir shows a bright, ruby red color with excellent clarity. In the nose we find beautiful aromas of ripe, red cherries and boysenberries. On the palate, flavors of bright ripe fruits along with subtle spicy notes fill the mouth and linger on a long, crisp finish. We feel this wine is an excellent match with a wide variety of dishes.
At Bernardus, all our Pinot Noir grapes are hand picked block by block according to ripeness levels, hand sorted and fermented in small batches using specially selected yeasts. Each fermenter is pumped over twice daily in order to maximize extraction of flavor and structure.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A great Pinot Noir to lead off with, the 2011 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands offers up upfront, voluptuous and supple aromas and flavors of bright cherries, forest floor and earth. This medium-bodied, textured effort is downright delicious and is hard to resist. Drink now-2017.
Other Vintages
2008-
Wine
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Pon appreciates wine as an art-- a form of art that transcends the ordinary. His dream with Bernardus is to make a red wine equal to the finest from Bordeaux. To achieve this purpose, Ben, a Dutchman who could have planted vineyards anywhere in the world, has chosen the Carmel Valley for his estate vineyards and winery. Since the early 1970's, there has been a growing awareness of the outstanding potential for Bordeaux varieties from this new viticultural appellation. The Bernardus estate vineyards of Marinus and Featherbow Ranch are located in the Cachagua region of the Carmel Valley. We have been told that Cachagua is the Spanish word Native Americans used for deep or hidden water. It has been said that Native Americans believed that all things in nature were sacred and interrelated. Their respect for balance in nature is carried on in the vineyards of Bernardus. More than 300 live oaks have been preserved to thrive among carefully planted vines.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.