Winemaker Notes
Copious amounts of black fruit, crushed rocks, graphite and muddled rose petals. Medium to full body, sensational depth and richness, ultra-fine tannin, and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard is a powerhouse effort as well as one of the gems in this great lineup. Fermented with 16% stems and aged in 50% new oak (30% of this blend was in concrete), it reveals loads of black fruits, crushed rocks, graphite, and crushed rose petals. With medium to full body, sensational depth and richness, ultra-fine tannin, and a huge finish, it’s up with the crème de la crème of this great vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged 16 months in 48% new French oak, the 2016 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard has a medium ruby color and slowly offers nuanced scents of rose petal, sage, crushed stone, Bing cherries and bright red berry fruit with accents of amaro and bitter citrus peel. Medium-bodied, it's wonderfully silky and perfumed with a gently chalky frame and addicting freshness, finishing long and nuanced. An elegant, perfumed style.
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.