After some awesome discussion about my last bottle of Sta. Rita Hills wines and the possible Syrah-like quality of one in particular. When your Pinot drinks like a Syrah??? - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
Adam Lee of Siduri had opened a conversation with me the next day as I shopped in the mall. Adam certainly has some interesting thoughts on the whys anything like this happens and especially happens in SRH. Adam had offered me some bottles for my honest opinion and evaluations. I was very interested to get insight into wines not normally on my radar. At best, he gets an honest evaluation, at worst, gaining me as a customer which could be trying to say the least.
I will leave his thoughts to him. I will give you mine. This is the entry level wine and it’s beautiful. After abut 10 minutes opened, this aligned itself into fruit driven elegance wrapped in style. A beautifully structured wine for sure. Thank you, Adam. This is Pinot in a style I can appreciate, One that does well on its own but will hold up to a juicy lamb chop on my back deck next summer. Now, where is my cc…
2012 Siduri Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills- USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (12/11/2014)
Yes, it’s dark. I am getting use to this from SRH. Nose is pretty and fragrant with a black/red fruit profile. I get cherries, pomegranate and boysenberries. Did I say it was pretty? It is. Palate shows a deftness of balance with an almost weightlessness sewn in. Love the bright fruit profile. I get black cherry and black raspberries now. There is much to appreciate. I get an almost spiciness that lays beneath the surface that is real nice. Acidity perfect and tannins lush and profound. This is graceful, poised and polished. An easy drinking wine. Finish long as you want and true to the fruit. Awesome. Great QPR too. (93 pts.)
Mike, thanks for the note. I had to look at your post a few times to finally realize you drank the SRH and I drank the SLH. In the spirit of posting notes, let me just add to your thread under the broader heading of Sidrui pinot.
2012 Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (12/10/2014)
Twisted this off for a week night glass from 375. Dark in color, lots of red and black fruit tones here, with the SLH acids. Cherry, jammy strawberry, kiwi and a brooding, darker quality that permeates the wine. Not of the delicate variety, more burly and well-suited for a cold night where you want some meat on the pinot bones. Finish has some grip, although I admit the wine has been open only about 90 mins so we’ll save one glass tomorrow and look for where it lands…lots of stuffing here, black cherry, dark strawberry and root beer. Still burly for me today, although my palate tends to drink in a style that is lighter than how this wine expresses itself so take that into account for your own calibration. Overall, this shows some structure and acidity to buffer the darker fruit so I’d say give it another year or so and let it settle some more.
I am no expert on SRH pinot but I have had my share of them and visited there twice in the past few years. I agree most are dark in color and I find that they all share an herbal element that I find to be an easy marker of SRH. It’s probably the only variety/region that I stand a chance of consistently picking blind. For the record, I love them even if they are bigger wines.
Thanks for adding, Frank.
Bob, no I have not had the oppurtunity to try Tyler yet.
Brian, yep, something for everyone. As a Cab drinker I might add that the width of styles in Cali Pinot sure seems to be broader on an average basis than say, Napa valley Cabernet, or even California Cabernets, at least those worth drinking.
So my theory (it probably isn’t well thought out enough yet to even be a theory) goes something like this:
– SRH is a truly unique area. It is the only true east-west valley on the west coast of North America. As such it funnels wind and fog directly in from the Pacific (there’s a reason Avenue of the Flags is in Buellton and the flags are so often pointing east). This leads to smaller berries and smaller clusters than in any other area (at least those we use). In much of CA and Oregon we get 4-5 clusters per pound. it is closer to 8 clusters per pound in SRH.
— This all leads to darker wines (mentioned already), more tannic wines (not yet mentioned, but higher skin to juice ratio), higher acid (best acids we get anywhere come from SRH). These combined with the herbal element Brian mentions (which may be accentuated by more stem usage, currently in vogue).
— In the case then of the SRH, the wines that are more Syrah-like (see Mike’s thread earlier) may be the wines that are picked earlier. In those wines there is still the concentration, the herbal character (perhaps more with less ripe stems) — but also more tannins and more acid. In most cases, I think posters in the earlier thread assumed correctly that more Syrah-like Pinot occurs when the fruit is picked very ripe. In the SRH, I think the opposite might be the case.
Maybe not much of a theory but certainly a thought process that deserves some fleshing out. I plan on ‘further’ experimentation myself. My limited knowledge and sense of learning wants me to go deeper, even if my friends are tired of me by now. In thinking back, I had a 2013 Rasi SRH Pinot a few weeks ago that I thought was pretty good (it’s actually still haunting me a bit). I would love more winemakers get involved and throw some not-too-scientific data points into the mix. The only constant in wine is that there is no ending to the knowlege one can gain if they actually put the passion just outside of arms length and run toward it. Great seed planted, Adam.
Bob,
I had the 2011 Tyler Encantada pinot a couple of months ago. We were hanging out with friends in Los Olivos, and several bottles deep at that point so I didn’t take any formal notes, but I thought it was exceptional, although a bit young. It featured beautifully pure, fresh red and black cherry, with the aforementioned SRH herbal/spice components, although I got the impression that the stem inclusion was much less than some other producers in that area. I will definitely be stocking up on more Tyler wines.
Re: some of the stem inclusion discussion… On the same trip, we visited with Sashi Moorman, and one of the things he mentioned was that in the last couple of years they have really found their sweet spot as to when to stop watering so that even though they pick fairly early, the stems are almost always completely brown and lignified. This really hit home with me as I feel that their wines definitely have a “stemmy” quality, but not in a green, unattractive manner that can be off-putting and take several years to integrate.
I haven’t tried any of the 2012 Sandhi single vineyards yet, but I thought the SRH was quite representative of their style, and must say that I did not get the heavy blueberry notes that Mike did. Based on your comments in the other thread, I think some readers may get the impression that you are saying it is a very ripe style of pinot? That is what I thought initially, then realized that you seemed to be hinting that it contained more of the herbal, savory notes that many cool climate syrahs have, but then again I could be wrong.
I agree with Adam. The Pinots that I’ve found to be more Syrah-like have been the earlier picked ones, where herbacious notes as well as a more “rustic” mouthfeel trigger thoughts of Syrah in my head. I probably wouldn’t limit that to SRH though, since that flavor and mouthfeel profile can extend to earlier picked Pinots in almost any region (to me).
Binny’s has this for $24 on sale which seems like a screaming bargain bases on your tasting notes. They also have the Sonoma Coast for $26. I will try both after reading your reviews.
I had the 2013 Siduri PN [Sta Rita Hills] over a couple of nights, mostly by itself, and enjoyed it, but did pick up a little herbal character - some oregano, seaweed on top of a touch of cola. Fairly dark garnet still. Low acid, no tannin, 14.1% abv is felt but the wine isn’t hot. We got this at the Siduri tasting room some years ago and it has kept well, but for my tastes it was best on day#1 so perhaps its time to drink up for those who have them. I love both the fruitiness of Siduri’s wines, and the closures - I never have to fret about TCA with these. 20 second finish, no sediment in my bottle.
The AVA blends they make are very good values. I’m assuming it’s just left over single vineyard stuff all blended together, but even if not, and its sourced from less exalted sites they are quite good. I do like Adam’s Sonoma/RRV bottlings a bit more though.