Winemaker Notes
This maritime-influenced Pinot Noir leans to the savory side of the spectrum with umami notes, salinity and textural richness. The texture is created by the high proportion of whole-cluster fermentation which is made possible by the dense core of dark fruit flavors we always find at Rancho La Viña. From this we can create a beautifully balanced, structured, dense and layered wine that will age beautifully.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Pinot Noir Rancho La Viña Vineyard is the most nuanced of the wines in the range. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, menthol, sweet spice and licorice are all amplified. Broad and ample on the palate, with tremendous depth, the 2021 is a rock star. I love the intensity here. The 60% stems are pretty much buried. This is a fabulous expression of the Sta. Rita Hills.
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Jeb Dunnuck
As to the reds, the 2020 Pinot Noir Rancho La Vina Vineyard was 50% destemmed and brought up in 30% new French oak. It has a beautiful bouquet of spiced cherries, framboise, peppery herbs, iron, and forest floor that carries to medium-bodied, ethereal, elegant 2020 offering ripe tannins and terrific purity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby, the 2020 Pinot Noir Rancho la Vina Vineyard has a nose of red and black cherries, mossy bark, mushrooms, tobacco leaves and tones of orange peel and Angostura bitters. The medium-bodied palate is chalky and very fresh with a core of perfumed fruits that give way to spicy accents sweeping across the long 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.