Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Smoked beef, tart cherries and dark berries show on the inviting nose of this hearty bottling from winemaker Paul Clifton. The palate is both heavy duty and elegant, with blackberry and black-cherry fruit resting on a spicy backbone of ginger, clove, bay leaf and aromatic chocolate, leaving the tongue singing for quite a while.
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Wine Spectator
Effusively fruity, rich and focused, with blackberry, wild berry and raspberry flavors, showing plum and cedary oak nuances at the edges. Delivers an impressive display of assertive, persistent flavors. For fans of more expressive Pinots. Drink now through 2022.
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.