Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Pinot Noir deliver the subtle elegance that can only come from sustainably farmed, cold-climate vineyards. Key aromatics include cherries, plums and raspberries with notes of mocha, vanilla and smoky oak. The palate is rich, smooth and silky with a lingering, bright red fruit finish. This is the perfect wine to serve with salmon, pork, lamb or soft cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Scents of cherry, cinnamon, and cedar are pure pleasure. Within the round, voluptuous mouthfeel, cinnamon and hints of oregano and white pepper season a plethora of red berries: cranberry, raspberry, and pomegranate. Aged one year in (25% new) French oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
This label by the Scheid family offers great value. It begins with aromas of scorched earth, charred wood and dark red fruit on the nose.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 District 7 Pinot Noir is fresh, clean, and bright. TASTING NOTES: This wine exudes lively aromas and flavors of red fruit and mineral-like notes. Enjoy it with grilled salmon fillets. (Tasted: December 26, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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 geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.