Winemaker Notes
Intoxicating aromas of black cherry, fig and plum sauce pull you in. A brilliant, deep ruby hue conveys a concentration of flavors such as cassis, black currant, and muddled blackberry. Soft and round tannins envelope the mouth and leave you craving more.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pinot Noir Block M is beautifully expressive this vintage, with very pretty scents of blackberry, raspberry and pomegranate with wafts of tar, lavender, prosciutto, mushrooms and blood orange. The medium-bodied palate is intensely concentrated and boasts fine, chalky tannins, mouthwatering acidity and loads of detail emerging on the long finish. Best After 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark in the glass, this bottling is concentrated on the nose with black cherry, cola, loamy earth, wild thyme and black olive aromas. The palate is bold as well, showing ripe boysenberry, mint chocolate chip and peppered salumi flavors, all wrapped in tight tannins.
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.