Winemaker Notes
The beautiful garnet color flirts with your eye immediately. Enjoy the dark plum, jammy and spicy aromas that are the signature of Sta. Rita Hills AVA. With 18 months of barrel aging, this wine also displays subtle aromas of brown sugar, molasses and forest floor. This wine offers rich, complex flavors with layers of texture that linger across your palate.
Pair with lamb burger, grilled salmon, chicken cordon bleu, Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper cheese, sea salt chocolate and lavender brownies.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Rusty earth aromas of shiitake, soy, dried cranberry and muddy soils show on the nose of this clonal study by Norm Yost. Dried red-plum flavors provide the backbone to the palate, where earthy sagebrush, forest moss and tangerine rind aspects combine for an intriguing sip.
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.