Winemaker Notes
The inaugural release was the 2005 vintage which includes a Santa Lucia Highlands appellation and a Lone Oak single vineyard designation. The Lucienne Pinot Noir grapes were hand selected from very small and special blocks of the Doctor's and Lone Oak Vineyards. We wanted Lucienne to express a "sense of place" and we feel that these two wines are a perfect "marriage" of Pinot Noir styles with one more masculine and full-bodied and another more silky and elegant in nature.
Winemaker Paul Clifton crafts the Lucienne wines utilizing his passion for Pinot Noir and cool climate viticulture. The two wines—a Santa Lucia Highlands appellation and Lone Oak single vineyard designation—are produced in small quantities with the first vintage coming from 2005. The wines are focused and elegant with a silky mouthfeel and pure velvety Pinot Noir flavors.
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.
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.”