Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Opulent aromas of dried cherry, cola spice and loamy earth offer a comforting fatness on the nose of this clonal expression. The palate's mouthfeel is quite viscous but contained by a zesty acidity, as those dark-cherry-cola flavors arise.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
More fruit-filled and juicy, the 2019 Pinot Noir Clone 115 offers ample cherry and mulberry notes as well as background cigar, spice, and floral nuances. It too is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, with lots of character.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple, the 2019 Pinot Noir Clone 115 features red and blue berries on the nose with touches of baking spice, citrus peel and potpourri. The palate is medium-bodied, soft and juicy with spicy fruits and an uplifted finish. Best After 2022
-
Wine & Spirits
From Ashley’s, one of Fess Parker’s estate vineyards, this wine leads with scents of mulled spice, licorice and pfeffernüse adorning a dark plum core. For all the aromatic savor, there’s one pure, spicy, dark fruit-lined olive note delivered with finesse—for a mushroom tartelette.
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.