Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a site on the southern side of the Sta. Rita Hills, the 2016 Pinot Noir La Encantada Vineyard (17 months in 40% new French oak) has a medium ruby color as well as a spicy, underbrush, and forest floor-scented profile. Possessing beautiful strawberry and raspberry fruits, medium body, bright yet integrated acidity, and a beautiful finish, it can be enjoyed any time over the coming 15 years or more. If you can, give it a year or two of bottle age.
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Wine Enthusiast
A bowlful of ripe red fruits, hibiscus and sharp cinnamon-laced potpourri make for an inviting nose to this single-vineyard expression. Bright acidity cuts through flavors of tart raspberry, pomegranate and baking spice on the taut palate, which is light in body but loaded with flavor. Drink 2020–2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir la Encantada Vineyard has a pale to medium ruby color and scents of stewed black tea leaves, black peppercorn, wild blackberries, black and red cherries and berries plus hints of woodsmoke and cola. It has concentrated fruit and earth layers in the mouth with a light to medium weight, a grainy tannic frame and juicy acidity, finishing long. Rating: 91+
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Wine Spectator
Exuberant minerality accents the crushed red fruit flavors, featuring floral hints. Medium-grained tannins show on the Asian spice–filled finish, with some forest floor details.
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.