Varner Los Alamos Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015
-
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard has a pale garnet color and a classic nose of woodsmoke, cranberries, Bing cherries, tree bark, dried citrus peel, pipe tobacco and dusty earth. In the mouth, it’s light-bodied and delicate with finely grained tannins and juicy freshness, finishing long and amaro-tinged.
Bob and Jim Varner started planted beginning in 1980, they take a non-interventionist approach to both growing and winemaking in order to express best the individual blocks. Bob farms the vineyard and makes the wine in a deliberate, careful rhythm. They look for purity, focus, balance and terroir. Indigenous yeast and malo-lactic fermentations, gravity flow, minimal sulfur dioxide and esquive racking are important parts of the process.
Bob and Jim Varner believe that the best wines come from winemakers who grow their own grapes. Therefore, in order to create the most expressive wines possible, the Varner’s use traditional cellar equipment and creatively translate centuries-old winemaking techniques and attitudes learned from well-known French family winemakers. The winery at the vineyard is entirely devoted to the production of handmade, Santa Cruz appellation Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir is the second-most planted grape in Santa Barbara County, just behind Chardonnay. It thrives in cooler areas of the region, namely in the of the Sta. Rita Hills, which is part of Santa Barbara’s larger Santa Ynez Valley sub-appellation. Thought for decades to be too cool for viticulture, Sta. Rita Hills began to gain notoriety in the 1970’s, thanks to the pioneering work of Richard Sandford and Michael Benedict, among others.
Santa Barbara Pinot Noir dances across the palate with vivid red fruit and spice. Precision, bright acidity, elegance and fruit-driven silkiness make Santa Barbara Pinot delightfully enjoyable, whether on their own or with a variety of dishes.