Dry-farmed, head-trained Pinot Noir was planted at 430m in the Peter Martin Ray Vineyard in the late 1970s. This vintage shows notes of dried leaves, red liquorice and tobacco. There is a rich, burliness to the texture that I find consistent throughout Santa Cruz Mountain Pinots, of which this is a definitive example. This bottle was delicious well into its third day of being open – a sure sign of a long, vibrant life ahead.
July 2020