2019 La Encantada Vineyard Pinot Noir
2019 La Encantada Vineyard Pinot Noir
A scrumptious Pinot Noir loaded with cherries, earth and baking spices.
Description
The 2019 La Encantada is an expressively complex wine from a vineyard often noted for its delicacy. The nose is rich with notes of black cherries, shitake mushrooms and a whisper of vanilla bean. The cherries follow us to the pallet, cradled by La Encantada’s distinctive panoply of baking spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and mace. Bright acidity and luxurious texture make this a perfect match for wild mushroom pasta or a Thanksgiving turkey. Though quite bold in flavor, the wine’s superb balance and layers of complexity hint at greater potential to come with extended cellaring. 93 points - Wine Enthusiast
Vineyard Notes
Located just west of the legendary Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, La Encantada is in the heart of Sta. Rita Hills’ quintessential Pinot Noir zone. The estate was planted by Richard Sanford in 2001. Comprised of 100 acres of mostly Pinot Noir, this north-facing vineyard is planted on a ridge straddling the Santa Ynez River Valley and is open to cooling marine breezes, which sweep in from the Pacific Ocean. Soils are a combination of clay, loam, shale and sand. Grapes sourced for this Pinot Noir came from Block 5 planted to the Swan selection.
Production Notes
The 2019 vintage enjoyed a long, cool growing season, which resulted in bright aromatics, complex flavors and well-balanced natural acidity in the grapes. A mild spring led to late budbreak and bloom, and temperatures remained below average for most of the growing season. Warmer late summer weather kicked off the harvest season, and we picked all our Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir in a 13-day window from September 12-25. Overall, grapes were ideally ripened with pure fruit expression and rich concentration. Pinot Noir from La Encantada was harvested on September 17th.
Winemaker Notes
Pinot Noir clusters for this wine were hand sorted before being de-stemmed and gravity fed to fermenters. The must was immediately chilled for a pre-fermentation cold soak where the most beneficial extraction of color, aroma and flavor occurs. Concentration was enhanced by gently punching down the cap several times per day. The wine aged 10 months in French oak barrels with 40% new French oak. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered on August 11, 2020.
| Vintage |
2019 |
| Wine Style |
Red Wine |
| Varietal |
100% Pinot Noir |
| Appellation |
Sta. Rita Hills |
| Acid |
6.3 g/L |
| PH |
3.4 |
| Size |
750 ml |
