Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir is a velvety red wine grown in the cool-climate winemaking regions of California. This wine offers a bouquet of crushed black cherry and plum with accents of allspice and spicy vanilla. This wine is rich on the palate with a touch of star anise on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This offers a succulent feel, showing sappy kirsch and raspberry paste notes streaked with savory and red tea, with a sandalwood hint through the lengthy finish. Drink now through 2029. 5,317 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.”
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.