Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Bright raspberry aromas are cut by a slightly funky touch of composting violets, dried bay leaf and animal hide on this deeply layered bottling from the legendary producer. The palate is equally complex, with mulberry, tangy cranberry, juniper and earthy mushrooms. It offers a great experience for the price.
Editors’ Choice -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Always a banker, there is never any denying the excellence of these wines. The 2015 Talbott Logan Pinot Noir sails brightly onto the palate. The wine's beautifully crafted red fruit flavors, with a hint of candied plum, stays upfront and present on the palate. Enjoy its refined qualities with lightly grilled rib lamb chops. (Tasted: February 1, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Logan Sleepy Hollow Vineyard is scented of kirsch, red currant jelly and pomegranate with touches of baking spices and roses pus a waft of damp soil. Medium-bodied, finely crafted and with a well-played chewy backbone supporting the elegant fruit, it finishes long and earthy.
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.