Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard is a beauty! Deep, rich, and textured, with smoking good notes of cassis, raspberries, violets, toasted spices, and flowers, this medium to full-bodied, rich, concentrated Pinot Noir has a great mid-palate, a seamless feel on the palate, and a great finish. Seeing the standard 25% stems and a mix of new and neutral oak, it’s one of the finest Pinot Noirs I’ve tasted from Adam.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a heady, powerful and delicious wine from a famous vineyard by veteran winemaker Adam Lee. Plump red cherries, star anise and vanilla shine on the nose, leading into a beautifully full palate loaded with red currant, dark cherry and baking spice. The acid sings into the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard is pale to medium ruby-purple and scented of black cherry pie, warm blackberries, shaved nutmeg, wet leaves and earth. Light to medium-bodied with a good core of dark fruits, it has juicy acidity and soft tannins with warm spices coming through on the long finish.
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Wine Spectator
Spice and a fresh earthiness make for worthy companions, as the wild berry, anise, sage and cedar flavors form an alluring alliance. Drink now through 2026.
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.