Pisoni Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2019
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another beautiful vintage for this cuvée, the 2019 Pinot Noir shows a more elegant, pure, classic style than some previous years, which were slightly richer and more bombastic. The 2019 reveals a medium ruby/purple hue (it's semi-opaque) to go with a gorgeous nose of ripe cherries, raspberries, and blueberries, followed by classic Pisoni minerality, brambly herbs, violets, and forest floor. As always, this site imparts an incredible sense of rocky, mineral-like nuances, and there's a liqueur of rock-like sensation on the finish. It needs an hour in the decanter if drinking any time soon and will have 15-20 years of prime drinking.
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Wine Enthusiast
This bottling manages to pack dense power into a silky, complex package. Aromas of baked cherry, brown sugar, French toast spices and generous oak make a sumptuous, luscious nose. The palate hits with firm tannins, then opens toward those lush blackberry pie and clove flavors, with mace lingering on the impressive finish.
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Pisoni Estate is the eponymous Pinot Noir made by the Pisoni Family and sourced from their Pisoni Vineyard. The site was founded and first planted by Gary Pisoni in 1982. His sons have since taken over the family business with Mark as vineyard manager and Jeff the winemaker. To the Pisoni’s, viticulture and winemaking must be seen as a whole, rather than as separate parts. This is essential to producing the best wine possible. The goal of Pisoni Estate is to create a great wine that represents this vineyard, a commitment to the land, and the passion of their family.
The Pisoni family approaches winemaking as an art, a science, and a craft. As such, from planting to pruning to harvesting, they work by hand, in accordance both with Burgundian tradition and their own ongoing understanding of what will best sustain this land they love and respect.
Successful wine is the result of holistic thinking and a synergy of parts. Vineyard manager Mark and vintner Jeff, his brother, work in close collaboration to pass on their father Gary’s vision. Just as Mark approaches growing and harvesting in the vineyards block-by-block, Jeff vinifies in small lots, hand-sorting grapes, observing, tasting, and testing them as they undergo native yeast fermentation, and supervising punch-down by hand. Their wine is the product of their joint sustained and meticulous attention.
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.