Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This winery always manages to pack in rich fruit and hearty spice. This bottling shows bay leaf, anise, pine needle and black tea aromas that accent a core of plum. That hearty dark fruit carries through to the palate as well, but warms up with earthy soil, licorice and minty fudge flavors. A luscious, lingering mouthful.
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.”
Taking advantage of the cool Pacific breezes that arrive via gaps between the Gabilan Range and the Santa Lucia Mountains, San Benito AVA is a great Central coast source for cool climate whites and Pinot noir.