Spear Estate Pinot Noir 2017
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Cranberry, green figs, and bright red cherry on the nose. Strawberry, raspberry, and tea leaves on the palate. The mouth feel is firm, spicy, and dry.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
I loved the 2017 Pinot Noir Spear Estate. It's an incredibly polished, elegant, medium-bodied effort with a great bouquet of red fruits, flowers, forest floor, and spice. Seamless, nuanced, and elegant, yet with beautiful fruit and texture, it's well worth seeking out. Drink it over the coming decade. It's actually a step up over the 2016, and I suspect the best is yet to come from this up and coming estate.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Tart pomegranate, wet slate and freshly plucked wild sagebrush aromas arise on the nose of this estate bottling from the heart of the appellation. The palate is tart, tangy and mossy with flavors of cranberry and bay leaf, all wrapped in pretty strong acidity.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Estate Pinot Noir has a pale to medium ruby-garnet color and pretty nose of bergamot, desiccated rose petal, potpourri, dried leaves and dust with a core of dried cranberry and bright red cherry plus cola and woodsmoke hints. Light to medium-bodied, it's delicate in the mouth with lots of earthy nuance, softly textured tannins and juicy acidity, finishing long.
Other Vintages
2020-
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast
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.