Winemaker Notes
There’s a unique earthiness to this wine, laced with notes of herbs de Provence, concentrated wild alpine strawberries and cracked black pepper. With even, smooth tannins throughout, this wine is delicate and nuanced, yet offers a meaty backbone and structure that carries it through to a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Autumn leaves, savory spice, sweet cherry and dried flower aromas and flavors all show in the light ruby colored 2014 Pinot Noir Duvarita Vineyard. This medium-bodied, silky, elegant Pinot Noir has no hard edges, impeccable balance and a great finish. This comes from a cool site located just outside of Lompoc, on the western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills, where the soils are mostly sandy loam. It spent 12 months in 20% new French oak prior to bottling.
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Wine Enthusiast
A bit lighter and less complex than Gavin Chanin's other bottlings this vintage, this wine is still impressively fresh, vibrant and may age better than the others. Aromas of red cherry, red plum, vanilla bean, wet slate, rose hips and a touch of fennel pop on the nose. The palate shows under ripe cherry that's spiced by white pepper, dill, bay leaf, peppercorns and eucalyptus oil.
Pinot Noir is the second-most planted grape in Santa Barbara County, just behind Chardonnay. It thrives in cooler areas of the region, namely in the of the Sta. Rita Hills, which is part of Santa Barbara’s larger Santa Ynez Valley sub-appellation. Thought for decades to be too cool for viticulture, Sta. Rita Hills began to gain notoriety in the 1970’s, thanks to the pioneering work of Richard Sandford and Michael Benedict, among others.
Santa Barbara Pinot Noir dances across the palate with vivid red fruit and spice. Precision, bright acidity, elegance and fruit-driven silkiness make Santa Barbara Pinot delightfully enjoyable, whether on their own or with a variety of dishes.
RVLCJPN14DV_2014 Item# 163551