Winemaker Notes
The 16th vintage of this wine, and a fabulous one it is! This wine was crafted from selected barrels from all of their Pinot Noir vineyards in order to make a wine of great flavor, complexity and harmony. They chose barrels that demonstrate approachability, an engaging personality, freshness and charm. The wine was aged 15 months on its lees in neutral French oak barriques, then blended and bottled without filtration. The cool vintage gives this wine a great combination of ripeness with structure, energy and length.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
As with the Chardonnay, the appellation 2021 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is a no-brainer purchase. Darker berries (mulberries, cherries) as well as leafy herbs, iron, and scorched earth notes all emerge from the glass, and it's medium-bodied, with beautiful mid-palate depth and integrated acidity.
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James Suckling
Savory and earth-driven aromas of dark cherries, wet bark, dried herbs and citrus peel. The palate is medium-bodied with finely integrated tannins and focused acidity, giving notes of blueberry bush, mocha, mulberries and potpourri. Well balanced with a reductive edge
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills comes from several vineyards across the appellation. Matured for 15 months in used French oak, the nose has a delicate perfume of raspberry, blackberry, oolong tea leaves, aniseed, underbrush and lavender. The light-bodied palate combines a seamless structure and weightless feel with concentrated, fragrant flavors, and it has an ethereal, floral finish.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe, fresh and focused, with a tight beam of raspberry and bitter cherry coulis notes laced with a savory touch, before shifting to floral notes on the streamlined finish. Reveals a nice ripple of energy throughout, too. Drink now through 2027. 775 cases made.
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.