The Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir has been the most highly acclaimed of our Appellation wines. Last year's wine was described by the Wine Spectator as having "wonderful balance and purity of fruit." The 1999 version of this wine was one of the Wine Spectator's top Pinots of the vintage. Given this wine's pedigree such acclaim should come as no surprise.
Traditionally, our Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir is a blend of fruit from the two most famous vineyards of the Appellation, Garys' and Pisoni. The 2001 is a slight variation on this theme and is all the better for it. This current wine is almost 2/3s Pisoni Vineyard fruit (usually Garys' makes up the majority of this wine) with the remainder split between Garys', Rosella's (our newest Santa Lucia Highlands area vineyard), and a bit of fruit from the Cerise Vineyard.
Not surprisingly, the 2001 Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir is a bigger wine than in previous vintages. The added emphasis on Pisoni fruit almost guarantees that this wine will be a full-bodied wine with great amounts of fruit concentration. The addition of fruit from Garys' and Rosella's brightens up the Pisoni wine considerably-playing up the livelier elements that make the Santa Lucia Highlands Pinots so wonderful to drink young. This wine also retains the good natural levels of acidity found in fruit from this area along with the distinct sage and dried herbal character that contributes to the wine's complexity. We think this is a pretty special wine that represents the area well, is enjoyable to drink in the short term, but is also worthy of taking up space in your cellar for a few years.
WINE STATISTICS
Harvest Dates: September 6,12,14,19,26, October 2,4
Blend: 64% Pisoni, 22% Garys', 7% Rosella's, 7% Cerise
Clones: Pisoni Clone, 115, 777, Martini, Pommard
Case Production: 665 case
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