Winemaker Notes
Bright and fresh, this Pinot Noir pairs wonderfully with various dishes such as grilled eggplant bruschetta, roasted mushrooms with herbs, or pork chops with fresh peaches and basil.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Navigating through the $20 Pinot Noirs can be challenging. With the inherent delicacy of the grape variety, I run into many examples that are rather pedestrian in quality. The Moobuzz brand has been one of the better ones, and the 2015 vintage is quite delicious, and I give the winery credit in its full disclosure of its use of 4% Petite Sirah. As a wine evaluator, I looking for wines that taste good, and this one does. TASTING NOTES: This wine is tasty and nicely balanced. Its aromas and flavors of pert red fruits, some wood accents should pair it nicely with grilled pork chops smothered with wilted Bermuda onions accented with a wine reduction sauce. (Tasted: October 1, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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 geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.