Winemaker Notes
This small-lot detail-driven approach to winemaking resulted in a complex and elegant wine. This is a classic Pinot Noir with cranberry and candied orange notes and hints of rose petals, earth and wet clay
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Potent aromas of fresh cherry are bold on the nose of this wine, as cracked cardamom adds a spicy kick. The palate is awash in creamy tannins and a full mouthfeel, with rich flavors of boysenberry, black cherry, chai tea, and pepper working in harmony.
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.”
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.