I loved the nose of the 2017 Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley. It just screams Pinot Noir with its spiced cherry, raspberry, white pepper, and sappy herb aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, nicely textured, fresh, and lively on the palate, it's a smoking little Calif Pinot Noir well worth checking out. This cuvée was just 25% destemmed and spent 9 months in used French oak. There are 3,500 cases produced.

Dried cranberry, pomegranate and raspberry meet with dried thyme and peppercorns on the nose of this appellation blend. There is good acidic zip on the sip, where cranberry flavors meet with dusty herbs.

The 2017 Pinot Noir (Santa Maria Valley) is an attractive, inviting wine to drink now and over the next few years. Sweet pipe tobacco, cedar, dried rose petal and sage give the 2017 a strong savory imprint, even if it was done entirely with destemmed fruit.