Native9, Rancho Ontiveros Vineyards Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley, California, 2014

Overview of the Wine

“Native9 is the fulfillment of my own American story two centuries in the making. Tracing my roots back to the first men and women who settled in the Santa Maria Valley, I worked for hourly wages along with my parents to buy a small plot of land our ancestors’ 8,900-acre Mexican land grant: a modest cattle ranch where I planted my 8-acre vineyard and a panoramic view of the land that had once been our own. Planted in 1997 by my own two hands with the help of friends and family while I attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard is now considered one of the finest sites for Pinot Noir in California. As a natural extension of my deeply personal vision for this vineyard, Native9 is made in small lots with a nod to both Old World sensibilities and New World stylistic freedom with the help of my longtime friend and vetted winemaker, Paul Wilkins.
Though I wasn’t born into the wine industry by traditional means, I have vine-growing and farming in my blood. The name Native 9 reflects my gratitude to the generations of California farmers and ranchers who came before me."

James Ontiveros, Viticulturalist & Owner, Native9

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Winemaker
Paul Wilkins

Grape / Blend
Pinot Noir

Origin
Santa Maria Valley, Central Coast, California

Tasting Notes
James Ontiveros sent a vertical of the pinot noirs from Rancho Ontiveros, his Central Coast vineyard from his family’s ancestral property, part of the original Rancho Tepusquet land grant. The wines share an old-school character—this 2014 is all about savor at this stage of its life, with scents of tobacco leaf, sundried tomato skin and caramel. All of this rallies around dried plum and fig fruit, conveyed on the palate by means of a thoroughly seductive, suede-like texture, balanced, composed, with an uncanny grace.

94 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"A lovely Pinot, dry, crisp and silky, with ripe raspberry, strawberry and cherry fruit flavors, grounded by notes of grilled mushrooms, exotic spices and forest undergrowth. Sweetly delicious now, it should blossom over the next six years."

94 Points - P.J.C.
Winemaker Justin Willett replaced Paul Wilkins at Native9 in the end of 2015. His first vintage retains some of the savor found in the early wines, though it’s brighter at the core, with a strawberry note beneath and behind the scent of tobacco leaf and mushroom. Savory, lean and slightly woodsy, this is dry and a touch astringent. Decant it to drink with game. —P.J.C.

Product size: 750ml