Winemaker Notes
With a deep ruby core that borders on shades of purple, the 2021 Lucia Soberanes Vineyard Pinot Noir is quiet in its youth, and the aromas slowly emerge from newly poured glass. As each fleeting moment passes, this wine’s tight profile begins to loosen and reveal waves of aromas. Notes of spice, sandalwood, and vanilla unfurl to reveal sumptuous notes of plum, raspberry, and floral hints of rose petal. Red berries and black cherry flavors provide a rich, luxurious mouthfeel, while rustic undertones of dried herbs, black tea, and spice from 34% whole cluster fermentation create an experience that is full throttle, yet restrained and elegant all at once. The slow fermentation with exclusively indigenous yeast is partly to thank for the superb purity or fruit and structure. It is the foggy and wind-driven influences of the Santa Lucia Highlands that provides the fresh acidity to ensure this wine will age beautifully into the next decade.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard saw a touch more stems and was fermented with 35% whole clusters, with the aging spanning 11 months in 45% new French oak. It needs air to show at its best and gives up beautiful red and black fruits as well as black tea, spicy herbs, and foresty, earthy nuances. With more moderate acidity, a round, supple, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish, it's going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and evolve gracefully over the following decade. It's another brilliant wine.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Deep and focused aromas of boysenberry meet with loamy earth and toasty woodspice on the nose of this wine. Hearty tannins frame the exuberant palate, which is ripe with berry jam, clove and crushed herb flavors, yet balanced by the detailed structure.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard was matured for 10 months in 45% new French oak. It has intense aromas of cranberry, raspberry, orange peel, forest floor and conifer. The medium-bodied palate is lightly chalky and refreshing with a concentrated core of layered, spicy fruit and a long finish.
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.