Winemaker Notes
This justifiably famous site, long considered the best in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, produces wines that are enigmatically powerful, yet detailed, nuanced, and complex. With power to spare, this site tends to revel in opulent, large-scale versions of Pinot Noir. Tobacco leaf, black pepper, mint and crème de cassis—this Pinot Noir has it all. Big, bold and finely structured, the powerful palate offers full-throttled richness. Not for the faint of heart. The finish gives immense dark-fruited richness yet maintains an elegance which underlines its provenance as a great California vineyard.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard is an ultra-ripe, characterful behemoth sizzling with macerated cherry, sweet pipe tobacco, toasted vanilla and sagebrush. Boisterous and brawny but neither heavy nor cloying, this wine has no qualms about strutting its stuff. Lively acidity is absolutely salivating, lending a cooling sensation to the undeniable pop of ethanol heat on the finish. Super-fine tannins knit it all together. The 2021’s balance is well calibrated, which is saying something considering how amplified all the elements are.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a very ripe but clean and enjoyable style of Pinot Noir from an iconic site, starting with aromas of black cherry and blueberry that stay fresh. The palate's cherry-cola core is lifted by mint, finishing on a vanilla ice cream kick.
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Jeb Dunnuck
James Hall met Gary Pisoni in 1998 and has sourced fruit from this site ever since, from the coveted “old field” and “Hermanos” blocks for the 2021 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard. Always complex, highly extracted, and intense, it shares a wealth of signature cranberry, raspberry bramble, fig, and oak spice, with a slightness of tea leaf, finishing in finessed tannin. This should age well 2031-2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Matured in 70% new French oak, the 2021 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard has layered, expressive scents of sour cherries, orange peel, fennel seed, underbrush and earth. The medium-bodied palate is concentrated and layered. It’s structured by abundant, grainy tannins and mouthwatering acidity, and it has a long finish with a flourish of spices. It opens dramatically with air and will benefit from 2-3 years in the cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and direct, with a friendly burst of strawberry and cherry fruit flavors flecked with light bramble and savory hints. Reveals nice energy, which adds length through the finish too.
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.