Winemaker Notes
The Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is a wine of precision, beautifully layered and nuanced. Rose petals, white pepper, and lavender all grace this racy wine. The palate is elegant, and seamless, with a pure and suave texture. This wine is delicious now yet has the balance and structure to age gracefully for some time.
It is a natural for richer fish dishes, roast chicken and even game.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lastly, and aged 16 months in 27% new barrels, the 2022 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is similarly hued, with a beautiful nose of framboise and darker, redcurrant-like fruit as well as chalky minerality, smoked earth, and dried flowers. I love its overall balance, and it has medium-bodied richness, a pure, seamless mouthfeel, and terrific tannins. It's the standout in the lineup and is going to evolve for 10-15 years with ease. It’s world-class.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is a beautiful cross-section of the vineyard, including around one-third of the original plantings. It leads with a quintessential nose of black cherries, dark dried spices, citrus peels and sous-bois that is both poised and energetic. The palate is silky and lifted while supported with a robust power that extends through the rich, fragrant, focused finish. In contrast to the more punchy single-block bottlings, this exudes a lovely, even-keeled nature.
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Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is sublime. Floral and savory overtones meld into a core of red/purplish fruit. This is such a sensual wine. Some of the other wines in this range are more overt, more obvious, but when it comes to balance and overall harmony, the S&B Pinot clearly has an added kick of finesse. It is one of the very best wines of this very challenging harvest.
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.