Winemaker Notes
From the upper plantings of the La Rinconada Vineyard, neighboring the famed Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, consisting of deep, dark, rocky soils. This is a selection of Mt. Eden cuttings that Richard Sanford brought down from Northern California years ago.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A taut, minerally spine lends tensile strength to the mix of rose hip, hibiscus, blood orange and bitter cherry fruit flavors that zip through. Rooibos tea and a flash of anise help flesh out the finish, though this keeps a nicely chiseled edge throughout. Mouthwatering.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Pinot Noir La Rinconada Vineyard leans into the fruit, with black raspberries, darker cherries, rose, gunflint, and sappy, underbrush notes defining the aromatics. Fermented with 75% whole clusters and aged 19 months in 25% new French oak, it's medium-bodied, firm, focused, and nicely balanced on the palate, with nicely integrated oak, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It needs 2-3 years of bottle age and will shine over the following decade or more. It's a classy Pinot that's going to gain complexity and breadth with time in bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir La Rinconada Vineyard opens with a primary bouquet of candied cherries, blueberries and bergamot. The palate delivers the lovely balance of vibrant lift and refined depth characteristic of La Rinconada, concluding with a weightlessly grippy finish that lingers with a distinctly oceanic quality. While this may seem somewhat stunted compared to more forgiving harvests, it is an impressive showing nonetheless. Rating: 93+
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.