Winemaker Notes
Style of Pinot Noir:
This wine represents the fruity style of Pinot Noir in our Wine Discovery Set.
Find more fruity Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe cherry fruit is cut by touches of rust and turned soil on the inviting nose of this bottling. The mouthfeel is thick and grippy, carrying rounded berry flavors, a hint of baking spice and some dried thyme on the back end.
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Wine Spectator
Offering a mix of dried berry, black tea, spice and loamy earth flavors, this succeeds, delivering moderately ripe fruit and loamy tannins. Best from 2019 through 2024.
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.”
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.