Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another fruit-loaded, hard-to-resist effort is the 2013 Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard, which comes from the cooler Sta. Rita Hills region in Santa Barbara County. Offering up notions of mulled plums, cassis, toasted spice and dried earth, it’s a classic Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir that shows the suppleness and pretty nature of the 2013 vintage. I like it now, but it will drink nicely for at least 4-5 years.
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Wine Spectator
Offers a racy mix of blueberry, blackberry and wild berry, fresh and zesty, folding into berry pie flavors that are tasty, intense and persistent. Drink now through 2023.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.