Winemaker Notes
The Ojai Santa Barbara Pinot Noir has a beautiful garnet color and expressive aromas of fruits, flowers and earth. The flavors are fresh and full-bodied and the wine finishes with just the right level of juicy tannins. This Pinot is young but displays a deliciousness and drinkability that makes it easy to have a second glass.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Leading off the Pinot Noirs, the 2016 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County is another winner that readers should snatch up. Ripe cherries, raspberries, forest floor, and salty minerality all flow to a medium-bodied, elegant, impeccably balanced effort that shows both the quality of the vintage as well as the style of the estate. Drink it over the coming 4-5 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir from The Ojai Vineyard reveals aromas of plums, raspberries, potpourri and sweet spices. On the palate, it's supple, open-knit and medium-bodied, with mouthwatering acids and melting tannins behind its generous core of fruit. This should offer a lot of pleasure in its youth.
Pinot Noir is the second-most planted grape in Santa Barbara County, just behind Chardonnay. It thrives in cooler areas of the region, namely in the of the Sta. Rita Hills, which is part of Santa Barbara’s larger Santa Ynez Valley sub-appellation. Thought for decades to be too cool for viticulture, Sta. Rita Hills began to gain notoriety in the 1970’s, thanks to the pioneering work of Richard Sandford and Michael Benedict, among others.
Santa Barbara Pinot Noir dances across the palate with vivid red fruit and spice. Precision, bright acidity, elegance and fruit-driven silkiness make Santa Barbara Pinot delightfully enjoyable, whether on their own or with a variety of dishes.
OJA0JAI16PNSB_2016 Item# 421884