Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Seabiscuit Zotovich Vineyard comes from the Sta. Rita Hills and was brought up in 65% new French oak. It shows the spicy, savory, salty style of the appellation, yet all with restraint, and it's the purity of fruit that leads, with gorgeous ripe raspberries, cherries, and mulberries all front and center. More medium-bodied, elegant, and impeccably balanced, it's already impossible to resist yet has a good 7-8 years of prime drinking ahead of it.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby, the 2019 Pinot Noir Seabiscuit Zotovich Vineyard is bursting with scents of cranberries, blackberries, tea leaves, citrus peel and savory spices. The medium-bodied palate is silky, spicy and seamless as it glides into a long, detailed, earthy finish. Lovely! Best After 2022.
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe strawberries, bark and earth follow through to a medium to full body with soft, round tannins. Hints of earth and meatiness at the end. Succulent. Vibrant acidity.
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.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.