Winemaker Notes
The Baileyana Firepeak Pinot Noir is beautifully balanced and exudes fruit aromas and flavor. This wine is created from a noteworthy vineyard we've affectionately named "Firepeak" after the chain of extinct volcanoes that once ruled the area where our grapes now grow in Edna Valley, CA. The volcanic remnants in the soil combine with clay loam and rocky marine sediment to create an ideal environment for making world-class Pinot Noir. Refined, rich and exceptionally balanced with beautiful intricacies waiting to be discovered.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The only red I was able to taste from this estate, the 2018 Pinot Noir Firepeak comes from the Paragon Vineyard in Edna Valley and was brought up in 35% new French oak. Terrific notes of tart cherry and strawberries, spring flowers, and forest floor all dominate the bouquet, and it's medium bodied, with bright acidity, notable balance, and a clean, juicy style that's a joy to drink. It's well worth checking out.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark-cherry, muddy earth and dark-mint aromas show on the nose of this bottling. The palate is crisp with cherry and berry, as pinches of thyme and baking spice complete the sip.
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.”
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.