Winemaker Notes
Meaty and full on the nose; a darker ruby in color, with bright, attractive highlights barely hinting orange. The nose is dark and leathery, reminiscent of black cherry, boysenberry, blueberry pie, and with all kinds of spicy earthy complexity: clove and cinnamon, lavender and apricot, caramel and smoke, bay leaf and rich, loamy soil. Give it some time in the cellar to blossom.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lots of mulberries, wild strawberries, sappy flower, orange blossom, and spicy notes all emerge from the 2021 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard, another beautifully balanced, elegant wine in the lineup. It shows the slightly cooler style of the vintage with its more focused mouthfeel, yet it has ripe tannins, plenty of fruit, and outstanding length. This red-fruited, floral, vibrant Pinot Noir will evolve gracefully over the coming decade.
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.