Pisoni, Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, California, 2023

Overview of the Wine
This land has an identity.   These mountains, this soil, the rocks, the quality of air and the wind. All these traits contribute to a character unique to this very part of the earth. Our goal as a family is to work with nature, through farming and crafting wines, and to preserve this identity in wines that express this very site.

The personality of this land was first recognized when Gary Pisoni began planting grapes in 1982 — some of the very first in this region. Each year we learn more about the characteristics of our vineyards, farming and winemaking to steadily improve the sustainability of what we do, and the wines we strive to create.

We approach winemaking as an art, a science, and a craft. As such, from planting to pruning to harvesting, we work by hand, in accordance both with Burgundian tradition and our own ongoing understanding of what will best sustain this land we love and respect.

Sustainable.

Winemaker
Jeff Pisoni

Grape / Blend
100% Pinot Noir

Origin
Santa Lucia Highlands, California

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
The 2023 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir is a wine born from a cold vintage on the mountainside that is Pisoni Vineyards. The 2023 vintage was the coldest and latest growing season since the 1999 vintage. The slow progression of this season took patience, but brought an elegant beauty to the profile, while still maintaining a characteristic concentration. Fresh rose petal, black cherry, succulent plum leap from the glass, while soft tones of baking spice and sage follow. Colder years generally require more work in the vineyard to ensure ripeness. This rewarded with low yields that slowly ripened and brought fine-grained tannins, a rich profile and bright acidity. Pisoni Vineyards has often been cited as a place that delivers power and finesse. This vintage speaks to that ideal. This 2023 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir has the structure to age and develop gracefully for many years to come.

96 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
Brilliant and worthy of comparison to top Pinot Noirs and Burgundies, the 2023 Pinot Noir offers a gorgeous array of red and black fruits intermixed with forest floor, dried flowers, baking spices, and leather. This medium to full-bodied Pinot Noir reveals a layered, elegant mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Made with 30% whole clusters and fermented in oak tanks before 11 months in 65% new French oak, it shows the softer, supple, incredibly charming style of the vintage and will drink beautifully over the coming 10-12 years.

96 Points - Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir is a blend from the four different ridges on the vineyard, aged for 11 months in 65% new French oak. Blue fruit and chaparral herbs sizzle out of the glass, melding into a deep inner core of slate, crushed rocks and chalk. The refined, polished quality of the tannins and the harmony of the refreshing, cool-toned acidity are both particularly excellent in 2023. This is not a flashy vintage of the estate Pinot—it’s a powerhouse with a soft-speaking voice, a wine built for the cellar that’s already showing very well today. Resonant and harmonious, the 2023 is a dynamic, dimensional, utterly classy wine.

Product size: 750ml