Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard gives notes of fragrant roses, black tea, crushed red currants and fallen leaves with a touch of cinnamon stick. The structure is beautifully seamless with exquisitely fine-grained tannins framing the delicate fruit intensity with true grace and it finishes with compelling mineral notes.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard comes from a terrific site on the southern edge of the Sta. Rita hills and saw 45% stems and 14 months in 15% new French oak. It offers a sweet nose of framboise, spice, forest floor and hints of flowers. This gives way to a charming, supple, downright pretty 2015 that has light tannin and a clean finish.
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.