Definitive Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2011

 Offering up a touch more freshness and detail, the 2011 Pinot Noir Rosella’s Vineyard is also upfront and textured, with ripe black cherry, rose garden and spring flower-like nuances all flowing to a medium-bodied, elegant and textured palate. There’s not a huge amount of back-end depth but it’s gorgeous nonetheless and I love the overall focus. It should shine for 4-5 years. Drink now-2018. This was an impressive (and large) lineup of wines. Made by the brother/sister pair, Brian and Kimberly Loring, with Rachel Silkowski functioning as assistant winemaker, these efforts never lack for fruit or texture and, for the most part, reward immediate gratification. Having said that, I think these 2011s will offer a relatively broad drink window. The 2012s are more rich and voluptuous, with the purity of fruit and seamlessness of the vintage.  (8/ 2013) Wine Advocate 92 Points

With its maritime influence, California's Monterey region has an extended growing season that yields wines with full flavor development and great acid balance. Mandolin Pinot Noir is a rich wine that features bright cherry and raspberry fruit with hints of spice, leather and cedar.

The grapes for this Pinot Noir were sourced from vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County, where high winds, dry days, and bay fogs create a cool, but very long, growing season. These growing conditions are ideal for cool-climate grapes such as Pinot Noir, and lead to full, forward fruit flavors and ideal acidity. Grapes were harvested at an ideal balance of sugar and acid, and the wine was fermented in small open-top tanks. The wine completed malo-lactic fermentation in French oak barrels, where it aged for 8 months prior to bottling. TA .67 pH 3.50 Residual Sugar 0.052g/100ml

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Patton Valley Lorna Marie Pinot Noir is 100 percent Pinot Noir.

Each year since 2002 we have crafted a reserve wine intended to exemplify the best the vintage has to offer.  Selected from a handful of barrels that are deemed to be the very finest in the cellar, we designate the wine “Lorna-Marie” in honor of the mothers of Monte and Sherie Pitt –two of the owners of Patton Valley Vineyard.

Our 2011 Lorna-Marie Pinot Noir appears to laugh at the cool, wet growing season that gave this wine its start.  Unlike many of its 2011 counterparts, this barrel selection has the structure and fruit of a much warmer vintage.  Leading with boysenberry, cigar-box, smoke, rose petals, and plum, the nose is as rich and concentrated as you would expect from this classic blend.  The dark aromatics in the nose are overtaken by mouthwatering, bright flavors of Bing cherry and zesty lemon.  The back of the palate is textured by bright acidity and soft tannins that push out the long and lingering finish.  Drink now or cellar for 10-12 years.

Mateo is the fruit of the friendship between two winemakers (José Ignacio Cuenca & Brian Loring), two countries (Spain & the US) and two worlds (the Old & the New). This wine is a unique blend of California's finest Pinot Noir grapes is dedicated to José Mateo Cuenca Anderson.

Deep ruby color with earthy plum and cherry aromas. Full, rich plum and cherry flavors with baking spice and white pepper notes. Great structure and balance with a long, complex finish.

Displays a compelling bouquet of strawberry, summer wildflowers, white rock, cola and the renowned Santa Maria Spice. Tender, lithe flavors of tree ripened cherry, dried herbs and hibiscus tea follow, with a mouthfeel made of pure silk.

The Bien Nacido Vineyard is located in the Santa Maria Valley on the South Central Coast of California, just east of Santa Maria. The topography of the valley features transverse ranges with an east/west orientation, opening up to the Pacific Ocean. The climate is strongly influenced by the ocean providing ideal temperate growing conditions for Pinot Noir. Early spring warming, mild summer temperatures and late arriving cold fall temperatures provide a long growing season for the development of rich color along with concentrated and complex flavors.

Review:

An intricately layered nose of sagebrush, blood, pencil lead, soy, beef jerky, lilac, violet, lavender and tight cranberries shows on this stunning wine from the historic vineyard. The palate offers rounded red fruits and cherry tomatoes that tighten around a sagebrush core, bolstered by lots of oregano, black pepper, dried basil and eucalyptus.

-Wine Enthusiast 94 Points

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"Deep ruby color; deep, earthy plum and cherry aromas with herbal notes; full, rich plum flavors with savory spice and pepper notes; some oak; good structure and balance; long finish. Earthy, complex Pinot that's drinking nicely now."

Review:

Medium-deep ruby color; complex and deep plum aromas with pepper and anise notes; complex, full, ripe plum and cherry flavors with pepper and oak notes; good structure and balance; long finish. Deep, full Pinot with the structure for some age. Pinot Report 93 Points