Winemaker Notes
A blend of untamed herbs and vivid red fruit. Aromas of freshly peeled apples with wet minerality. Notes of vanilla and mint. Provocative and polished, with a silky, lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a mix of Garys’, Rosella’s, and Soberanes vineyard (there’s also a tiny amount of Pisoni), the 2016 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands leads with its beautiful fruit and has lots of blueberries, cherries, spices, and candied violet-like aromas and flavors. Drink this medium-bodied, seamless, elegant 2016 anytime over the coming 4-6 years.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dried strawberries, plums, cedar and cream follow through to a full to medium body with round and velvety tannins. Very juicy and delicious. Tight and beautiful.
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Wine Spectator
Racy, filled with well-structured crushed red fruit and spice flavors that are backed by crunchy acidity. The lithe finish offers a lively minerality, with saline hints.
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.