Winemaker Notes
Dark mountain berries and spice dominate this Pinot, with a stream of fine minerality snaking through. Wild, savory elements interplay with plump fruit flavors. A delicate, yet mysterious red that plays well with many cuisines.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Juicy black cherry and boysenberry aromas are generous on the nose of this single vineyard expression, with waves of wet soil and crushed slate adding a mineral nuance. The lush palate of Luxardo cherry and a spice rack of flavors is wrapped in grippy tannins that elevate this wine to the upper echelon.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another pretty, perfumed wine in the vintage, the 2021 Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Vineyard has ripe strawberry and framboise-like fruit as well as ample background spice and dried herb nuances, and it gains a darker, floral edge with time in the glass. Medium-bodied on the on the palate, with nicely integrated oak, velvety tannins, and just a round, supple mouthfeel, it's drinking beautifully today and will be drinking beautifully in another 7-8 years as well.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and with nice range, offering wood spice, incense, black and red tea and mulled plum and raspberry fruit notes that meld together through a lengthy finish. Reveals nice underlying freshness, too.
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.