Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Redcurrants, sappy herbs, black tea, and sous bois notes as well as a beautiful sense of minerality all emerge from the 2018 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard, and it just sings on the palate, with medium to full-bodied richness and flawless balance. A wine that builds and grows on you with time in the glass, it shines for its complexity and nuance just as much as its depth and richness. This beauty will evolve for 10-15 years. Rating: 95+
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James Suckling
An array of fresh, colored flowers, ripe strawberries and redcurrants on the nose. Full-bodied with fine, soft tannins and wet-stone character. Layered in its minerality with a burst of roses that carries throughout the long finish. Well balanced. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Wines from this vineyard can be quite structural, and this bottling very much fits that reputation. Aromas of baked dark fruit, wood spice, turned earth and crushed mulberry lead into a palate framed by leathery tannins. Flavors of berry and dried rose will grow more integrated with time. Drink 2022–2034. Cellar Selection.
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.