2020 Racines, La Rinconada Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, California, USA
Critics reviews
The 2020 Pinot Noir La Rinconada Vineyard is a potent, searing wine. Bright red-toned fruit, minerals, crushed rocks, white pepper and iron all race across the palate. I find the stems overpowering to the degree that site character is masked. This austere, reticent Pinot will need a number of years to come together. It's a very good wine, but one that could have been and should have been better.
Drink 2024 - 2032
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (August 2022)
Light clay with lots of stones. The most Burgundian site – ‘though we don’t want to make burgundy in California, just want to have a Burgundian sensibility’, says Étienne de Montille. 70% whole bunch.
The darkest of these 2020 Racines Pinots. Light nose. Lots of texture and savour underneath. Very juicy too. Firm, ripe tannins on the end. Long.
Drink 2025 - 2033
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (August 2023)
The La Riconada Vineyard Pinot Noir has impressive density given its silken finish and sub 13% abv. This is a wine of sheer concentration. Tightly wound a core of fresh red fruits lays the scene for savoury and mineral accents that tease the fruit character into something that shows more depth than the three years would lead one to believe. Aromas of anise, smoke, mer and dried sumac pull out notes of wet stone and dried savoury herbs. The palate is supple and red-fruited but backed by crushed basalt and Mediterranean scrub, leading one to want to revisit this wine in five years.
Drink 2023 - 2034
Clive Pursehouse, Decanter.com (August 2023)
About this WINE
Racines Wines
Burgundian winemakers Étienne de Montille and Brian Sieve joined with Champagne’s Rodolphe Peters to form Racines, in California’s Santa Rita Hills.
Their aim was to locate a perfect terroir outside of France: one where they could utilise produce stellar Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, outside the constrictions of their respective French regions.
The cool climate of the Santa Rita Hills provided the perfect terroir for this new venture, given the team’s multi-generational expertise in hand-crafting Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs of remarkable purity and elegance. While Santa Rita’s ocean-driven terroir shines through, these wines benefit hugely from being crafted with the technique and expertise of hundreds of years of Burgundian and Champagne winemaking.
Ultimate care is given to the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, in order to coax out unique qualities. Whole-cluster fermentation is combined with pigéage throughout the Pinot Noir fermentation, to add spice to a burlier, weighted character. Chardonnay grapes are grown several miles from the ocean in ancient marine sea beds, to give the wines they create a real sense of energy, transparency and precision.
Santa Barbara County
At the foot of the Central Coast, just north of Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara County reverberates with its Missionary past, although viticulture as we know didn't arrive here until the 1970s. Now there are 6,000 ha of world class Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.
While fog banks shape the season, together with a notable rainfall deficit between May & November, elevated terraces such as Bien Nacido in the Santa Maria Valley AVA faciliate premium fruit growing. Santa Ynez Valley AVA enjoys similar trait, though cooler still;
Recommended Producers:
Au Bon Climat's Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay from the region's Santa Rita hills is a prime example. Qupe are another excellent source
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The La Riconada Vineyard Pinot Noir has impressive density given its silken finish and sub 13% abv. This is a wine of sheer concentration. Tightly wound a core of fresh red fruits lays the scene for savoury and mineral accents that tease the fruit character into something that shows more depth than the three years would lead one to believe. Aromas of anise, smoke, mer and dried sumac pull out notes of wet stone and dried savoury herbs. The palate is supple and red-fruited but backed by crushed basalt and Mediterranean scrub, leading one to want to revisit this wine in five years.
Drink 2023 - 2034
Clive Pursehouse, Decanter.com (August 2023)
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