Winemaker Notes
This wine is filled with concentrated flavors of black cherry, raspberry and dark plum. Barrel aging provides notes of cedar and brown spice with hints of vanilla.
Try the Windstream Pinot Noir with venison steak, beef bourguignon or roasted asparagus.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The cooler conditions of the vintage give the 2023 Pinot Noir Estate Sarmento Vineyard more restraint than earlier vintages. Tightly tannic still, it offers dark fruit and a slatey texture, accented in earthy forest pine and white and black pepper. It’s still full-bodied and robustly concentrated but represents good value.
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.