Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of blue fruits and lavender on the nose. Fresh spices. Very aromatic. Hints of slate. Medium body, with an orange peel and raspberry character that follows through on the palate. Linear and fine tannins run the length of the wine. Mostly heritage clone like Calera.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Vista Verde is bursting with aromas of kirsch, strawberry pie, violet, cast iron and earth. The medium-bodied palate has an elegant structure of chalky tannins and bright acidity, and it gains intensity and expression as it opens in the glass.
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.