Winemaker Notes
The 2017 'SBC' Pinot Noir was largely composed of Spear Vineyards fruit, but as is oft the case here, they couldn't help but fall in love with a few very special barrels. These barrels make up what is now the 2017 Spear Vineyards Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Pinot Noir Spear Vineyards (15 months in 85% neutral barrels) reveals a medium ruby, translucent color as well as awesome notes of spiced cherries, dried flowers, damp forest floor, and autumn leaves. Medium-bodied, elegant, and ethereally textured, it has no hard edges, displays ultra-fine tannins, and offers plenty of salinity on the finish. This is a complex, classic Sta. Rita Hills effort to enjoy over the coming 8-10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium garnet, the 2017 Spear Vineyard Pinot Noir has a broody nose of pipe tobacco, woodsmoke and undergrowth with dried black cherries, wild blackberries and cola hints. Light to medium-bodied, it's got a silky texture and good intensity with grainy structuring tannins and juicy acidity, finishing long and earthy.
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.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.