Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
A candied black-cherry aroma meets with wild thyme, dried marjoram and tea leaves on the nose of this bottling by Winemaker Blair Fox. It's light bodied on the palate, allowing elegant red-fruit and purple-flower flavors to ride the vibrant acidity into the finish.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard reveals aromas of juicy wild berry fruit, cherries and sweet soil, framed by creamy new oak. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with an ample core of fruit, nicely succulent acids and good length. This is a comparatively lavish interpretation of this pioneering vineyard, but it's well balanced for consumption in the next four or five years.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
he medium ruby-colored 2016 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard (16 months in 25% new French oak) is an impressive expression of this vineyard. Ripe red and black fruits, forest floor, ample marine-like minerality, and floral notes all flow to a medium-bodied, ethereally textured, yet firm, closed Pinot Noir that needs another year or so to flesh out. It has plenty of fine tannin as well as good overall balance and should evolve gracefully.
Rating: 91+ -
Wine Spectator
Lots of dried strawberry and red currant flavors show in this richly spiced style. Minerally midpalate, with a savory snap on the rich finish. Drink now through 2022.
Established in 1989, Fess Parker Winery is a multi-generational family owned and operated winery that has a rich heritage in Santa Barbara County. Fess Parker produces premium, small-lot, vineyard designated Burgundian varietals from the Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley as well as Rhône varietals from their organically farmed, SIP Certified estate vineyard.
Outstanding fruit sources, including some of the finest vineyards in the county, coupled with skilled winemaking, led by Blair Fox, form the foundation for the winery’s success. Now three generations in, the Fess Parker Family is proud to carry on Fess’s legacy of wine heritage and hospitality in Santa Barbara.
Fess Parker Winery was proud to be named a Top 100 Winery in the World by Wine & Spirits Magazine in both 2022 and 2023.
Santa Maria Valley lies mainly in northern Santa Barbara County, with a small portion of it overlapping southern San Luis Obispo County. It is close to the Pacific, and runs east-west, which means warmer air in the eastern end draws cool air off the ocean in the west, and brings it through the valley. This effect, combined with abundant sunshine, lengthens the growing season. The longer growing season leads to long hang time, which promotes both ripeness and optimal acidity levels in grape berries. As early as the 1970’s, Santa Maria Valley was recognized as being a superior source of wine grapes, certainly including Chardonnay and Syrah. But arguably the top variety here is Pinot Noir.
Originally a domain primarily of growers, including the Miller Family of the justifiably famous Bien Nacido Vineyard, this AVA is now home to over 30 wineries. Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir consistently offers full flavors of cherry, strawberry and raspberry, often accompanied by notes of spice, cola, vanilla and earth. They show impressive balance and elegance, as well as great versatility with food.