Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Pinot Noir La Encantada Vineyard is darker colored (than the Solomon Hills) and comes from the Sta. Rita Hills. It was destemmed and brought up in 53% new French oak. It's one of the standouts here, offering a rocking core of dark berry fruits, ground herbs, earth, and wood smoke. Ripe and beautifully textured, with sweet tannins and terrific overall balance, it's already impossible to resist yet will keep for a solid 7-8 years, probably longer.
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Wine Enthusiast
Polished aromas of red cherry and hibiscus meet with wild sage and light wood on the fresh nose of this bottling. There's an herbal array on the palate, from pine needle-laced forest floor to tea leaf and eucalyptus, giving depth to the light red-cherry and mulberry flavors.
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.