Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Macerated strawberry and raspberry aromas meet with sumac and more red spice on those nose of this bottling from the iconic vineyard. There is compelling richness to the black cherry and Alpine strawberry of the palate, and then an underlying layer of dark star anise spice rises into the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Both deeper and darker than the Rosella’s Vineyard, the 2017 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard offers more blackberry, toasted spice, dried earth, and some garrigue-like notes, with just a hint of background oak. It too is medium-bodied, elegant, and seamless on the palate, with beautiful balance.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard is pale to medium ruby in color and offers gregarious scents of strawberry and raspberry jam, crushed blueberries and blackberries with notes of rose petals, dried leaves, cinnamon, earth and amaro. Medium-bodied and über silky, it has delicate berries flavors laced with loads of spice, earth and floral accents, finely grained and fresh with a long, layered finish. Lovely!
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Wine Spectator
Refined and precise, with good cut to the dried red currant and raspberry flavors, backed by firm acidity and silky tannins. Savory and underbrush notes emerge on the powerful finish. Drink now through 2024.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Vying for top honors among an altogether impressive collection of 2017 Pinots from Roar, this one from Garys’ Vineyard is rife with generous and juicy, ripe cherry fruit and is decked out with a lovely, well-considered complement of creamy oak. It is as lively as it is rich with the balance, the depth and the fruity stamina to make for easy predictions of an increasingly attractive future ahead, and, although it is young and arguably a touch simple at the moment, the only thing that stands between it and compelling complexity is a bit of cellar time. Set is aside for a few years and watch it grow!
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.