Winemaker Notes
Black cherry, Black raspberry, Grilled sage, Grilled plum, Earth Vanilla, Milk chocolate. Aromas of Red cherry, Raspberry, Red plum, Chocolate, Forest floor, Cigar box, Cured tobacco, Cinnamon.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
More closed and reticent, the 2016 Pinot Noir Clone 115 (16 months in 37% new French oak) is deep ruby/purple-colored and reluctantly gives up notes of Bing cherries, scorched earth and charcoal. It fleshes out nicely on the palate, however, and is concentrated and rich as well as fresh and focused, with building tannins. It's a beautiful wine but needs a year or two or bottle age.
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Wine Spectator
Rich, ripe and powerful, featuring concentrated dark cherry and berry pie flavors that are flanked by toasty notes. Unctuously spicy, with a savory edge on the long, minerally finish. Drink now through 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Light aromas of black raspberry, cranberry jam and a hint of oak smoke kick off the nose in this study of a popular clone. The smoky elements mask the fruit at first on the sip, but ripe berries and mulberry slowly arise alongside the charred pork flavors, bolstered by a long-simmering acidity.
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.
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.