Winemaker Notes
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a cool, windy region south of Monterey, the 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands offers a fruit-forward, medium-bodied, classic style that carries lots of black raspberry fruits, a touch of floral and violet notes, and plenty of spice-like aromas and flavors. This rounded, plush, and sexy Pinot Noir is ideal for drinking over the coming 4-6 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands has bright, open-knit aromas of red and black cherries, warm earth and roasted cranberries with nuances of tar, black tea leaves and underbrush. Medium-bodied, it’s bright and pretty in the mouth with touches of floral perfume, a grainy frame and good freshness, finishing long.
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Wine Spectator
Freshly crushed plum and cherry flavors are supported by crisp acidity. Flinty accents show on the juicy finish, with cocoa powder and floral hints.
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.