Alma Rosa Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2020
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Robert
Parker
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
With a stunning deep ruby color, the Sta. Rita Hills Pinot is aromatic and vibrant on the nose. This gorgeous Pinot has vibrant, red fruit tones such as red cherries, cranberries, wild strawberries that are blended pleasantly with notes of orange peel, raw cocoa, rose petals, sage and thyme. The tannins are well pronounced but smooth in this wine, giving it good structure. Vivid flavors of raspberries, walnuts and wet stone integrate with nicely notes of minerality.
The Sta Rita Hills Pinot is pairs beautifully with lamb, chicken, grilled skirt steak and pasta dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills comes mainly from El Jabalí vineyard, with just three percent from Bedrock vineyard. Made with destemmed fruit and matured in 30% new French oak, it's showing well since I first tasted it several months ago, offering dark cherries, lavender, dried herbs and earthy touches on the nose. The medium-bodied palate is chalky and fresh with a deep core of dark berry fruit and a long, spicy finish.
Other Vintages
2014-
Wine
Enthusiast
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Wine
Enthusiast
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Wine &
Spirits
Working in partnership for more than 30 years, Thekla and Richard Sanford founded multiple, successful winegrowing enterprises. Their latest venture, Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, represents the culmination of a lifetime's experience – an enterprise dedicated to creating high quality wines and setting a benchmark for organic farming, sustainable agriculture methods, and environment-friendly commerce.
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.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.