Winemaker Notes
Offering immediate drinking pleasure without sacrificing the complexity and nuance that makes this grape so compelling. A wine brimming with seductive fruit alluring aromas and supple tannins. The consummate overachiever.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another stunning value from this label is the 2019 Pinot Noir, which comes from declassified grapes from the Hilt label. Black raspberries, black cherries, peppery herbs, and sappy flower notes give way to a medium-bodied, layered, incredibly elegant Pinot Noir offering purity and focus as well as good mid-palate concentration. As with all these wines from this label, it over-delivers.
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.