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Sta. Rita Hills Wines

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Sea Smoke 2007 Ten Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Cellar Selection
Online Exclusive

Price $80

This very dense, tannic Pinot Noir represents a triumph for both the winery, the vintage and the region it represents. A multi-clone blend (hence the name) with high, cool-climate acidity and aged in 100% new oak, it’s still young, fresh and tight. The astringency throws a cloak over the raspberries, cherries, rosehip tea and Indian spice flavors, which reveal… — S.H. (3/1/2010)

Melville 2007 Carrie's Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Editors' Choice
Online Exclusive

Price $52

Combines a delicate, floral lightness with a potent intricacy to produce a wine of vast intellectual interest. Dry and somewhat tannic, and crisp in tangy acidity, this small-production Pinot features tiers of tart red cherries, rosehip tea, cola, mint, lavender, anise and pepper, edged with the honeyed sweetness of smoky, glazed oak. A tremendous achievement, and… — S.H. (11/1/2009)

Babcock 2009 Microcosm Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Editors' Choice

Price $50

Score Chasers: USA 2011

From the southernmost part of the appellation comes this very deeply flavored Pinot Noir. It bursts in the mouth with mushu plum sauce and cherry fruit and the most marvelous feral notes of mushrooms, minerals, hung meat, forest spices and herbs. It’s quite a tannic wine, giving it a brooding quality. Huge, massive, stunning. Should glidepath through the next 6–8 years. — S.H. (10/1/2011)

Fess Parker 2005 Ashley's Vineyard Clone 115 Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Price $50

This single-clone barrel selection takes the essence of the gorgeous, regular ’05 Ashley’s and concentrates it. Brims with sautéed Portobello mushroom, tamari, tangerine zest and black cherry preserves, leading to an immaculately rich, delicately silky, nuanced and enormously complicated Pinot. Hard to exaggerate the purity and finesse. Drink now–2012, before the… — S.H. (4/1/2007)

Ojai 2007 Clos Pepe Vineyard Chardonnay (Sta. Rita Hills)

Online Exclusive

Price $38

Huge, rich, white Burgundy style Chardonnay. Has a pie-filling fruity richness of pineapples, lemondrop, pears, kiwi fruit and exotic kumquats, balanced with fine, minerally acidity, and wrapped into a buttercream texture. The oak is flamboyant, but perfectly in keeping with the wine’s volume. Dazzling and dramatic, from a vineyard that just keeps performing better… — S.H. (8/1/2010)

Samsara 2008 Las Hermanas Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Price $44

An exotic Pinot Noir, feral and exciting in its appeal. Wildly complex, with the scents of a summertime walk through a coastal California woodland. Forest floor, mushroom, wild cherries and raspberries, roasted shank bone, licorice, sandalwood—the flavors go on and on, balanced with crisp acidity. So dry; a joy to experience. — S.H. (12/31/2010)

Ojai 2005 Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Price $56

This wine is as fine as anything from Santa Rita Hills. Although it’s young and tight now, its future is assured by the brilliant combination of audacious fruit and classic structure. The blackberry, currant, cherry, anise and clove flavors are wrapped into rich, silky tannins, and brightened with crisp acidity. Best now, with decanting, and for the next 6–8 years. — S.H. (3/1/2008)

Roessler 2005 Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Editors' Choice

Price $50

Clos Pepe is one of those vineyards that rarely fails to dazzle, and Roessler has done as good a job at interpreting it as any of the wineries that designate its fruit. The wine shows a terrific balance of acids, oak and tannins, with an elegantly silky texture and exquisitely ripe, but controlled, cherry, pomegranate, cola, tea and Asian spice flavors that finish… — S.H. (2/1/2008)

Most Reviewed Varietals [All]

Chardonnay Other Red Other White Pinot Blanc Pinot Grigio/Gris Pinot Noir Riesling Rosé Sauvignon Blanc Shiraz/Syrah Viognier White Blend Zinfandel

Most Reviewed Producers [All]

A.P. Vin Alma Rosa Ampelos a-non-ah-mus Arcadian Armanino Family Cellars Babcock Bonaccorsi Brewer-Clifton Brophy Clark Calicaro Cargasacchi Carr Casa Barranca Casa Cassara Cheval Sauvage Clos Pepe Coghlan Cold Heaven Consilience Coup de Foudre Damian Rae Demetria Deovlet Diatom Dierberg Dolina Dragonette Drew Epiphany Fess Parker Fiddlehead Flying Goat Cellars Foley Fontes & Phillips Foxen Furthermore Gainey Gypsy Canyon Hilliard Bruce Hitching Post Huber Inception Jaffurs Ken Brown Kenneth-Crawford Kessler-Haak Koehler Kunin La Fenêtre Lafond Lane Tanner Lincourt Longoria Loring Wine Company MacMurray Ranch Melville Milliarium Ojai Ortman Family Ovene Pacific Coast Pacific Ridge Pali Paul Lato Prodigal Renard Rideau Roessler Rozak Rusack Samsara Sanford Santa Barbara Winery Saudade Sea Smoke Seagrape Siduri Summerland Sunbox Eleven Tantara Taz Testarossa Think Tank Thorne Townley Trout Street Turner Twin Oaks Two Sisters Tyler Waits-Mast Wedell Cellars Whitcraft Zotovich Cellars

2009 Merry Edwards Flax Vineyard

A distinguished Pinot Noir, notable for its pure, refined structure…

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