Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From one of the warmest sites in the Santa Lucia Highlands and granite soils, the 175-case 2014 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard was mostly destemmed (10% whole clusters) and spent 15 months in 27% new French oak. It offers textbook Pinot Noir notes of kirsch, blackberries, wild herbs and cedary spice in a full-bodied, concentrated, impeccably structured and balanced profile. My notes finished with "serious wine," and while it certainly offers pleasure today, it will be even better with short term cellaring, and I suspect it will still be drinking nicely in 2028.
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Wine Spectator
Plump and generous, with lively, delicate, earth- and gravel-laced plum and black cherry flavors, gaining a spicy quality and firming with fine-grained tannins on the aftertaste.
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.