Winemaker Notes
Originally planted in 1996, this mature vineyard produces Pinot Noir wines of great structure and balance. The Fiddlestix Pinot Noir shows spicy aromatics, vibrant acidity and notes of smoke, black cherry and cola. Enjoy!
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Elegant aromas of cassis, lavender and violet are offset by earthy potting soil scents on the nose of this bottling. Lovely layers of flower, fruit and spice erupt on the palate, which is wrapped in delicate but persistent tannins.
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Wine & Spirits
This straightforward Sta. Rita Hills wine delights with its dark and spicy scents—cola and black raspberries, cinnamon, earth and a bit of sassafras. The flavors are broad and sumptuous, a concentrated, spicy succulence that’s buoyed by robust acidity. Power chords, for thinly sliced tri-tip.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard is a darker, more earthy effort that still brings plenty of freshness in its bright cherry, candied strawberry, and sappy flower-like aromas and flavors. As with many of the 2019s from Fess Parker, it has a focused, firmer style on the palate that’s going to benefit from a year or two in the cellar.
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.