Winemaker Notes
Pale garnet in color, elements of orange zest, red apple skin and black tea emanate from the glass. With time, tender notes of rosewater, thyme and Chinese five-spice emerge alongside dusty components of lavender, fennel seed and dried tobacco. The palate impression is elegant, with well integrated stem tannins that frame the wine’s lengthy and generous finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The silky and finesse-oriented 2014 Pinot Noir Terraces (60% destemmed and aged 14 months in neutral oak) offers tons of dried flowers, spice, red currants and sweet cherry fruit in a medium-bodied, nicely textured and polished style. Like the Indigene, it has no shortage of building tannin, but is impeccably balanced. This is a beautiful wine that will be better in another year and will have a decade of longevity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Very light in the glass, this bottling is also delicate on the nose in terms of power. But it offers tons of action nonetheless, with fresh and dried herbs, flint and a tiny bit of smoke adding to the red-fruit aromas. The palate is tense with energy, showing thyme, oregano and eucalyptus spice, placing more emphasis on the herbal backbone than the red-fruit ripeness.
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.