Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Sashi Moorman and Rajat Parr make their Pinots taste effortlessly elegant, but it’s a fine-tuned approach in the cellar and ultra-attentive viticulture that achieve those mouthwatering results. Their estate bottling is like a juicy cross between Burgundy’s Volnay and Beaujolais’ Morgon.
-
Wine & Spirits
Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman farm several former Evening Land vineyards, planted in 2007 in the far western Santa Rita Hills. You can taste the extremity of these cool, windy sites in the wine: a salty crunch, the acidity bright and appetizing, like biting into pomegranate seeds, the aromas clean and invigorating, like rosemary and borage. It’s a coastal match for white fish, like halibut or seabass. (3,000 cases)
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.