Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2015
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
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Wine Enthusiast
This is Greg Brewer's appellation blend rather than his single-vineyard expressions, but it's still incredibly dynamic and delicious. A fresh and fruity strawberry-slushie aroma is met with notes of crushed slate and star anise-spiced cookies on the nose. The palate is bright in flavors of slightly tart cherries and ripe cranberries, but then come juniper and pine needle on the midpalate. Acidity pumps into the pomegranate and menthol finish.
Editors’ Choice -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills has fragrant herbal notes of Provence herbs and wild thyme over a core of red cherries and cranberries plus a waft of dusty earth. Medium-bodied, it delivers a wall of refreshing red berry and earthy layers supported by chewy tannins a lively backbone, finishing long.
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Brewer-Clifton believes the geographic, geologic and climatic uniqueness of the Sta. Rita Hills appellation provides an ideal place to grow chardonnay and pinot noir grapes of intensity, complexity and specificity. This is why Founder and Winemaker Greg Brewer, Wine Enthusiast’s 2020 Winemaker of the Year, has dedicated his life to this region. Within this appellation, each vineyard carries its own imprint. The Brewer-Clifton mission and passion is to present wines that convey the characteristics inherent to each of these sites, with uncompromising quality.
Brewer–Clifton has the utmost respect for nature. They believe when working with a product of nature, it is necessary to maintain an awareness of the elements and phenomena sometimes beyond their understanding and control. As such, any intervention in the natural evolution of the product must be carried out with the utmost attentiveness and care.
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.