Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged 10 months in 61% new French oak, the medium ruby-purple colored 2018 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard has a nose of cranberries, blueberries, forest floor, blood orange and dried violet. Medium-bodied, the palate is concentrated and super perfumed with a finely grainy frame, great juiciness and bright citrusy accents, finishing long and layered.
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Wine Enthusiast
Candied boysenberry and black-raspberry aromas meet with ample baking spice on the nose of this bottling, which manages to be both sharp and spicy. Fresh and lovely fruit qualities dominate the palate, from alpine strawberry to lush baked cherry, although the mace and star anise qualities are what make it shine.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Mulled cherries, wild strawberries, iodine, sappy herbs, and a touch of forest floor all emerge from the 2018 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard. Nicely balanced, it has a wonderful texture and sweet tannins, and is just a classy, complex Pinot Noir. Coming from a mix of clones (943, Calera, Pisoni, and Swan) and brought up in 61% new French oak, drink it over the coming 8-10 years.
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Wine Spectator
Powerfully structured, minerally and slate-driven, with hints of black pepper to the dark currant, raspberry and black olive flavors. Tarry nuances and dark chocolate notes emerge on the broad, enveloping finish. Drink now through 2025.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Describing any of the 2018 Roar Pinots as being “light” would be well off the mark, yet when compared to its siblings, this one is a tad leaner in muscle with a little more brightness and buoyancy to its intense, mineral-tinged cherryand berry-like fruit. It is moderately full-bodied with wonderfully sustained, keenly focused, very pure Pinot flavors, and, even if fairly temperate in tannin, it has the structure and fruity vigor to age and age.
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.