Winemaker Notes
This wine has earthy aromatics with hints of dried sage and crushed rose petals. The palate features dark plum, cranberry, nutmeg, cracked black pepper, and cherry cola. It shows balanced acidity and velvetlike tannins, finishing with accents of blood orange, barrel spices, and vanilla bean. This wine would pair well with your holiday glazed ham.
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This bottling checks a number of boxes, from the zesty lemongrass to damp chalk to honeydew and pineapple-rind aromas. The fresh and full palate is tight in texture, with flashy citrus leading into rounded tropical-fruit flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Inviting, with raspberry and blood orange notes gliding through like sherbet, but without giving up the savory- and tea-infused sparkle. Light toast- and sassafras-tinged finish. Drink now through 2027. 1,485 cases made.
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.