Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 59

Top 50
US Pinot Noirs
Our blind panels tasted 586 US pinot
noirs for this issue. Our critics selected
these as the top 50. Joshua Greene
covers California's North Coast; Patrick J.
Comiskey covers the rest of the US. We
include additional 41 Best Buys following
the top selections. Find a complete list of
wines tasted and all reviews at
wineandspiritsmagazine.com.
CALIFORNIA: CENTRAL COAST
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
93 | Au Bon Climat
aroma, brown-sugar sweetness that lends
fleshiness and a soft succulence and curvy
amplitude. Very much of a piece. For roast
chicken. -P.J.C. (927 cases) §
93 | Au Bon Climat
$100
$50
2018 Santa Maria Valley Runway Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ This 16-acre site just south
of Bien Nacido catches the front line of ocean
fog as it rushes into the Santa Maria Valley.
Jim Clendenen clearly had an affinity for this
cool site, teasing gorgeous, haunting savor
from the fruit, along with raspberry and
bramble notes. Those fruit flavors brighten
with air, toward spiced red cherry, with lovely
dusty mineral notes and vibrant acids. For
duck sausages. -P.J.C. (290 cases) §
2018 Sta. Rita Hills Larmes de Grappe
Pinot Noir ^ Exceedingly well built and clearly
designed to age, this wine comes from Sanford
& Benedict's old-vine blocks, which can
absorb a 100% whole-cluster ferment, and an
assertive oak regime, two years in François
Frères 350-liter barrels. It has a formidable
oak imprint, with Dr. Pepper and cola scents,
but not so much as to mask a coastal, seawrack
savor on the palate. the texture is rich
and round, the wine's dark plum notes sumptuous
and fleshy. For braised beef. -P.J.C.
(100 cases) §
93 | Buttonwood
$32
2018 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir (BEST BUY) ^
Scents of smoke and tar give this pinot noir
a rasher of depth and gravitas. Those more
brooding elements tether exuberant, dark
red fruit flavors. Sleek and full, this is a fresh,
well-priced wine for chicken thighs seasoned
with za'atar. -P.J.C. (200 cases) §
93 | Cambria
$45
93 | Au Bon Climat
$50
2019 Santa Ynez Valley Sanford & Benedict
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ One of the of
the last Jim Clendenen made in his life, this
2019 is a beauty, with an old-vine composure
and spice that renders the wine sturdy
and graceful. It has a mildly smoky, vinous
2019 Santa Maria Valley Mesa Terrace
Pinot Noir (BEST BUY) ^ Cambria's Mesa Terrace
brings together the winery's best block
selections from the benchland vineyard that
comprises much of the estate. This is a wine
that took several days to open, starting off
slightly sleepy and simple, with scents of
cocoa nibs and candied cherry. After two
days open, it displays astonishing poise and
seamless elegance, with a kind of mineral
grip to the dark cherry flavors that suggests
the fog from the nearby surf as it settles over
the benchlands. -P.J.C. (200 cases) §
93 | Fess Parker
$60
2019 Sta. Rita Hills Fiddlestix Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ This straightforward Sta. Rita
Hills wine delights with its dark and spicy
scents-cola and black raspberries, cinnamon,
earth and a bit of sassafras. The flavors
are broad and sumptuous, a concentrated,
spicy succulence that's buoyed by robust
acidity. Power chords, for thinly sliced tritip.
-P.J.C. (532 cases) §
93 | Kosta Browne
$165
2019 Sta. Rita Hills Mt. Carmel Pinot Noir ^
From a windswept ridge on the northern end
of the Sta. Rita hills, this is not a shy wine.
It's driven by brisk red fruits-raspberry and
red cherry-and by a weighty rasher of oak.
There's no denying its power and layering,
or the full range of its flavors, but it needs
years to integrate. Cellar. -P.J.C. (650 cases) §
93 | Lucas & Lewellen
$35
2017 Santa Maria Valley High 9 Goodchild
Vineyard Pinot Noir (BEST BUY) ^ Time in the
bottle has rendered this benchland wine lean
and exposed to its essence, which is savory,
smelling of miso, plum sauce, smoke and tart
raspberry. This wine's delicate grace presents
the best reasons to drink older pinot, for the
finesse of its evolved texture, for the umami
thrills it can produce. -P.J.C. (1,782 cases) §
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
94 | Talley
$150
2019 Arroyo Grande Valley The Adobe
Pinot Noir ^ This blends two barrels of Block
7 from Rosemary's Vineyard with two from
Block 2 at East Rincon; they are among the
property's oldest blocks, planted in 1984.
The cool 2019 vintage makes this a slightly
more subdued wine than the 2018, but what
starts out quietly blossoms into a magnificent
wine, with scents of strawberry, tobacco,
kid leather and cherry. It's warm and elegant,
finely weighted, but hardly lacking flesh and
succulence. A balancing act of exceptional
beauty and grace. -P.J.C. §
SAN BENITO COUNTY
94 | Calera
$80
2018 Mt. Harlan Mills Vineyard Pinot
Noir ^ Small yields and moderate to warm
weather result in a Mills that's generous in
S PR IN g 202 2
WINE & SPIR IT S
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http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com https://www.aubonclimat.com/Wines/Au-Bon-Climat https://www.calerawine.com/wines/pinot-noir/mt-harlan-pinot-noir-mills-vineyard
Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022

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