Winemaker Notes
Leather, tobacco, and cola in a dense, masculine cloak of ripe dark berries makes one imagine sipping this in an old 19th-century library. This wine has a refined richness that stands out, and ages beautifully.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard also has a big kiss of iron and obvious minerality. Deeper ruby-hued, with lots of mulberry, cranberry, and tart cherry fruits, it has lots of underbrush and earthy nuances, medium to full body, beautifully integrated acidity, and terrific tannins. It shows more and more marine-like seaside, almost iodine nuances with time in the glass and this is another brilliant Pinot Noir in the lineup.
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Wine Enthusiast
Clean lines of cherry, clove, potpourri and incense slice through the nose of this bottling. There's noticeable pepper spice on the sip, where baked cherry and cola flavors are hit with a flash of incense while riding a fairly substantial frame of viscosity and power.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and powerfully structured, offering intensely fresh raspberry tart and cherry flavors. There's a minerally snap midpalate, with a long finish that is filled with savory richness and hints of hot stone. Drink now through 2026.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Very much in the Roar fold, yet a bit more transparent than its meatier, slightly fuller mates and showing a dusty rose veneer to its complement of fresh, optimally ripened cherries, the 2019 Garys’ Vineyard bottling is a deep, exceptionally well-balanced Pinot that, while firmed by a modicum of youthful tannins is continuously fixed on very keen varietal fruit throughout. Its scant streak of last-minute astringency does not rule out near-term drinking but does ask for the buffering effects of service with food, and there is no question in our minds that what is now a very good wine will be that much better if allowed to sit in the cellar for three or four more years.
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.