Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Located south of Monterey, the Santa Lucia Highlands is a great AVA that produces an amazing amount of outstanding Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrahs. Starting with the appellation 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands, it comes all from the Soberanes Vineyard (in the relative center/southern end of the appellation) and spent 15 months in 47% new French oak. This beautiful, elegant, complex wine displays the fruit-loaded style of the appellation yet stays balanced, nicely textured, and even elegant. Black cherries, black raspberries, leafy herbs, a touch of flowers, and some earthy/forest floor notes all emerge from the glass, and it hits the palate with a soft, supple texture, again, terrific balance, and a great finish. It's slightly less expensive than the single vineyard, but I think it’s just as good.
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James Suckling
Gentle aromas of blueberry, cranberry, lemon zest, violets, crushed gravel and chalk. It’s medium-to full-bodied with sleek, tight tannins and bright acidity. Focused and precise. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Subtly elegant violet, lavender and rose petal aromas meet with a black-raspberry sorbet and hint of wood on the nose of this appellation blend. The floral tones of the palate surround dark-berry, earthy mushroom and wild mint flavors atop a taut texture that holds through the finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Domaine Della Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir is layered, thick, and penetrating. TASTING NOTES: This wine fills the palate and offers aromas and flavors of black fruits and exotic spices. Pair it with Mediterranean-spiced lamb dishes. (Tasted: April 19, 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.”
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.