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: 2018 Lucia Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

2018 Lucia Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

SKU #1474815 94 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the appellation 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands has a big, sexy, spicy style as well as medium to full body, a rounded, expansive mouthfeel, classic Pinot Noir underbrush, violets, Asian spices, integrated acidity, and a great finish. This is a year-in, year-out great value readers will love. Inner quote mark (5/2020)

93 points Vinous

Outer quote mark Deep crimson. Intensely perfumed red and blue fruit, floral oil and baking spice qualities on the expressive nose, along with hints of cola and licorice. Juicy and precise, offering concentrated black raspberry, boysenberry and floral pastille flavors that take on a five-spice powder accent with air. Plays power off delicacy with a deft hand and finishes extremely long and supple, with polished tannins framing lingering blue fruit and candied rose notes. (JR) Inner quote mark (10/2020)

92 points Connoisseurs Guide

Outer quote mark We have warned more than once that giving short shrift to Pinots labeled simply by appellation and assuming that single-vineyard renditions are necessarily superior can result in missing many amazingly good wines, and this one from Lucia more than proves the point. Not only is it a wonderfully well-made offering that deserves appreciative applause for its spot-on focus, its depth, its insistent richness and its exquisite balance, it earns an encore round, if not two, for its altogether exceptional value. There is nothing second-tier about it. *Good Value* Inner quote mark (6/2020)

92 points Wine Spectator

Outer quote mark Well-structured, with accents of savory, wet earth and forest floor flanking the deep well of dark fruit and Asian spice flavors. Hints of mocha show on the ripe, broad-textured finish. (KM) Inner quote mark (7/2020)

K&L Notes

From winemaker Jeff Pisoni, this appellation blend offers estate pedigree for an excellent value. It was fermented with native yeast and 19% whole clusters before being aged for 11 months in 40% new French oak. Winery note: "Grown exclusively from our Pisoni, Garys’ and Soberanes vineyards, the Lucia appellation based wines are a wonderful representation of our estate vineyards, of which each block is cultivated to the same high standards. Stunningly pure in its infancy, the 2018 Lucia Pinot Noir barely contains its concentrated notes of raspberry, black cherry, and red currant but rather fills the air immediately as this wine splashes into the glass. Red berry flavors hidden within a shimmering ruby core give way to secondary notes of spiced plum, sage, and baking spice, adding extraordinary complexity to an already multi-dimensional wine. Hailing from three estate vineyards (41% Garys’, 32% Pisoni, and 27% Soberanes), this wine combines the best qualities of each site, staying true to the fog-laden slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands from which it derives. Its concentration, complexity, and structure will stand the test of time."

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2018 Lucia Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

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Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world.

Sub-Region:

California

- With the explosive growth that California's wine industry has seen the past several years, it's easy to view winemaking and grape growing in the Golden State as a recent phenomenon. And while it's true that California's viticultural history is brief compared to several European countries, this state's roots date back well over 200 years. Due to the enormous response to California wine within the United States and worldwide, there are thousands of excellent and diverse wines being produced within the state each year.

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