Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard comes from one of the great vineyards in California and was aged 17 months in 60% new French oak. More tart black cherry, mulberry, and blackberry notes emerge from the glass, and it has beautiful minerality as well as sappy flower and spice notes, full-bodied richness, a focused, elegant texture, no hard edges, and gorgeous length. It's up with the finest Pinot Noirs I've tasted from California.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard is one of the best renditions of Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir I have tasted. It has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and the most pure scents of rosewater and incense with notes of aniseed, iodine, smoked cranberries and blackberries. It's immediately accessible, medium-bodied, satiny, fresh and finely grained, with explosive flavor layers and a long, exuberant finish. Gorgeous! It's drinking wonderfully now but has the structure and fruit to age well in bottle.
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.