Winemaker Notes
Aromas of cherry, rhubarb and mint with flavors of blackberry, boysenberry and allspice. Black tea and silt on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2014 Pinot Noir Machado is another rounded, full-bodied example of this vineyard and has complex notes of ripe cherries, incense, applewood, and exotic spices. With beautiful fruit and no hard edges, it’s another candidate for drinking any time over the coming 8-10 years or so.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The strawberry, floral, fresh and incense-scented 2014 Pinot Noir Machado is full-bodied, beautifully textured and layered, with ultra-fine, building tannin that comes through on the finish. I love its purity of fruit, and it shows incredible class and length on the palate. It needs 2-3 years of cellaring and will drink beautifully over the following decade.
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Wine Spectator
Taut and intense, with dusty raspberry, fresh earth, cedar, tobacco and dried herb flavors. Full-bodied and expansive, right down to the tea-laced tannins.
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.