Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
My favorite of the Sta. Rita Hills releases, the 2013 Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard offers sensational purity and elegance in its darker berry fruits, crushed flowers, underbrush and hints of mint. Seamless, silky and refined, it still has plenty of fruit and texture, and shows terrific focus on the finish. I'm a fan and this bottle drank beautifully over the three days I had the bottle open. It will have a decade or more of overall longevity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe raspberry juice is spiced heavily with cloves rendered in butter and flashes of black pepper on this wine by Adam Lee. It’s fresh and flavorful on the powerful palate, with lots of black spice, vibrant berry juice and fresh thyme on the edges. This wine is alive with energy and verve.
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.