Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2013 Etude Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir shows excellent brightness and an endearing wild streak. This wine should pair well with lightly grilled salmon. Drinking nicely now. (Tasted: May 9, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The outstanding 2013 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard, which comes from multiple clones, shows a deep color, loads of dark black raspberry and black cherry fruit, earthiness and spice in a full-bodied style.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a study of doing the Sta. Rita Hills in a less rich way, with lighter aromas of pomegranate, fennel and a touch of freshly plucked purple flowers. The palate is also more delicate, with crisp and clean flavors of cranberry and anise clinging to a firm tannic structure. This will last for years and grow more interesting with time.
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.