Best Pinot Producers in Sta. Rita Hills?

WINE TALK
21

I will throw my hat in for Rusack. Great value pinots, especially the Mt. Carmel which drinks like a $60-80 bottle.

22

Sea Smoke
Loring (especially Loring’s version of Clos Pepe and Kessler Haak)
Crawford Family

Honorable Mentions to Babcock, Samsara, and my friend Marc Simon of DV8 made a John Sebastiano Vineyard Pinot this year.

23

Among the newer ones, I’ve liked Crawford Family (which has a friendly walk in tasting room in Buellton - in a medium-lower ABv style) and Tyler (really high quality full AFWE style).

Though I think I like both even more for their chardonnays even.

24

No SRH producer is even close to Arcadian…

TTT

25

Had a 15 Longoria Lovely Rita a couple nights ago and it was restrained and elegant, but not stemmy. Good value for $32.

26

FYI, the public tasting room for Crawford Family is now in Los Olivos, though to your point I do think they will book private tasting appointments at the Buellton winery facility from time to time.

Jonathan

27

Lea & Fiddlehead are my top Two

28

Are we limiting this discussion to wineries in Santa Ynez valley or any producers that source grapes from Sta. Rita Hills?

29

Bryan, thanks for bringing some humor into my day!!! [cheers.gif]

30

Concur.

It is way too early in the game, but a young bottle of SRH from Liquid Farm was extremely impressive but needs time.

31

With the amount of money and energy being put into this area recently, it will be interesting to revisit this thread in a decade to see what answers people will give them. My guess is that they will be quite different.

32

Yes, it will be interesting to see how things change. As I wrote in other thread, I had written SHR pinot off as not my style until a recent visit to some producers that I had not tried before changed my mind. My current favorites is probably Tyler who will be producing his own fruit soon. It will be interesting to see how that changes things if at all.

33

If I am looking for amazing pinots that will age gracefully for 15+ years…

  1. ABC
  2. Arcadian
  3. Ojai

If I want an amazing Pinot right out of the gate…

  1. Paul Lato
  2. Seasmoke
  3. Clos Pepe
34

I can echo Larry’s comments, especially about Longoria’s Fe Ciega, and La Montagne. One other I would add is Ernst Storm, who makes some great pinot out of the John Sabastiano vineyard.

Possibly my all time favorite was the 2001 Arcadian Francesca PN.