Winemaker Notes
The 2023 Los Carneros Pinot Noir shows off a deep ruby red color that immediately draws you in. Its aroma bursts with red fruit and earthy hints, including a touch of black cherry and violet. On the palate, you'll notice a fresh, crisp feel with layers of red fruit flavors like strawberry and raspberry. This wine is lively and very fruit-forward, with a balanced structure and a long, satisfying finish that makes it an instant classic.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
The first sip is pure satin, the edges are rounded and the fruit i s supple and ripe. The flavors are boundless, with cedar, cranberry, plum and strawberry riding a pillow of vanilla clutching a blanket of rhubarb. There's mystery and intrigue with notes emerging and expanding at every swirl and every swish. Black pepper and aloe and blood orange offer a final flourish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2023 Grand Napa Vineyards Pinot Noir, sourced from the cool-climate Los Carneros AVA, shows a medium garnet hue and opens with aromas of fresh strawberries and garden herbs. On the palate, it is silky and persistent, unfolding layers of strawberry and blueberry flavors. A superb match for jeyuk bokkeum, Korea’s slightly spicy stir-fried pork with gochujang, where the dish’s gentle heat and savory-sweet depth play beautifully against the wine’s bright fruit and herbal lift. (Tasted: August 4, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas and flavors of black and red cherries, fresh blossoms, and bramble. This Pinot Noir is friendly, fruit-forward and mouthwatering.
As early as the 1970s Carneros became known as a source of terrific Pinot Noir, and was one of the first California regions to gain such a reputation. The combination of sunny days, cooling fog and thin clay soils are tailor-made for the variety. Another factor in Pinot Noir’s prominent place here is vintners’ willingness to experiment widely. The history of the grape in Carneros is marked by continuous research into clonal variations, viticultural techniques and site selection. Careful evaluation over time has revealed a signature flavor profile as well. Complex aromas and flavors of cherry, red berry, spice, earth and cola appear time and again in Carneros Pinot Noir. To this day the appellation remains one of California’s standard bearers for the variety.