Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard is a bold, racy wine, Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, cinnamon, leather and gravel infuse the Fiddlestix with its characteristic dark profile. There's terrific depth and tons of personality too. The 20% whole clusters are pretty much buried by the sheer intensity of the fruit.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A spicy, up-front, darker fruited release, the 2020 Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard is medium-bodied, has ripe mulberry and black raspberry fruit, some spicy background oak, ripe tannins, and outstanding length. This broad, textured, impressive Pinot Noir will keep for a good 6-7 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark strawberry and cherry aromas converge with leather and tar on the nose of this bottling. The fruit shows a tart side on the palate, with rounder flavors of violet and açaí also at play, all zinging into a sagebrush-kissed finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Powerful and spicy, this style of dark, tarry pinot was once a hallmark of Sta. Rita Hills pinot fruit. Scents of pen ink and soy adorn its blackberry compote and crushed-berry flavors. A stalwart wine for steak.
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Wine Spectator
A juicy, open offering, with a mix of raspberry and damson plum notes that have good energy, backed by light savory, anise and red tea accents through the toasted finish.
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.