Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Pinot noir - Las Hermanas Vineyard is a light, bright wine with a wonderful sea spray/olive brine character on the nose and plenty of lively red fruits: cherry pie, red plum, acai. Elements of tarragon, bay leaf and fresh, wild herbs - sage and mint - give this Pinot complexity and layered flavor.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Winemaker Matt Brady likes to play against fruit in his Central Coast pinots, and the Sta. Rita Hills terroirs are tailor-made for this effort. This one grows at a vineyard just west of the Melville Estate. The wine leads with an arresting cluster of spicy aromatics of bergamot, black tea and peat, while the dark fruit broods in the background like a spurned prom date. With air, the fruit comes forward, the wine morphs into a silky, seamless meld of savor and dark, glossy sour-cherry flavors. The fruit-skin tannins hint at the wine’s aging potential.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-garnet, the 2019 Pinot Noir Las Hermanas Vineyard features cranberry and orange peel with accents of underbrush and Angostura bitters. The palate is light-bodied, chalky and very fresh with delicate, spicy fruits and an energetic, spicy finish.
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.