Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
With its firm but not overly tight fruit making the early going and built alongside somewhat supple, gracefully balanced lines, this bottling shows plenty of varietal precision to its personality and stays on a consistent line from front to back. Its freshness lifts its ripe cherry fruit and a bit of creamy oak adds underlying richness, but there are tannins for aging as well, and as inviting as this wine would seem to be, it is bound to grow for a half-dozen years.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The impressive and dramatic 2013 Morgan Double L Vineyard Pinot Noir show ultra-deep, black fruit that is rarely found. The wine stretches the boundaries and yet stays right in the varietal's sweet spot. Deep ruby color, dense and wild red and black fruit aromas, on the brooding side, yet waiting to break out; medium bodied, multi-layered on the palate; dense and energetic flavors of red and blackberries, almost licorice like; long finish, loaded with fruit in the end. (Tasted: August 24, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Deep aromas of blackberry, ripe raspberry, smoked meats and wet black slate emerge on the nose of this wine from one of the region’s pioneers. The strong slate minerality also shows on the palate against a backdrop of sleek sanguine flavors and big, dark but not overly ripe cherry fruits.
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.