Second Best CA Pinot Noir Region

Based on stats from The Wine Institute, Sonoma has the most acres devoted to Pinot Noir (about 10,000 acres or 35% of all CA PN acres) and Monterey was second (about 6,200 acres or 21%). Combined, about 56% of all PN is produced in Sonoma and Monterey. Therefore, presumably, the PN from Sonoma and Monterey are the "best" in California.

Who are the best PN wineries in Monterey? And how does Santa Barbarba stack up? The real question is: outside of the RRV, who makes the best PN in CA?

Dave

The real question is: outside of the RRV, who makes the best PN in CA?

Dave

I don't follow these wines myself but I always thought the consensus was that the Santa Cruz Mountains were far and away the best place for pinor noir in California.

The acreage devoted to a grape has relationship whatsoever to the quality of the product, or even for the suitability of the grape to that region.

-Paul W.

Echoing what the others have said, my favorite sources of CA PN are, in no particular order: Carneros, Santa Cruz Mtns, Mendocino, Sonoma Coast and RRV (in the hands of a select few winemakers).

Mark Lipton

I would narrow Mark's "Mendocino" down a little to the Anderson Valley. I generally like theirs better than any other area of California. I'd probably have Carneros and the Santa Cruz Mountains in a tussle for second place.

Doesn't anybody have any love for poor old Santa Barbara/Santa Maria or the Carneros?

As was mentioned, the amount of acreage under grape, or the number of wine labels produced, has very little to do with the overall quality of a variety.

Only a small portion of Monterey is actually suitable for Pinot Noir. Much of the county is syrah, cabernet, and merlot and quite rightly so---you wouldn't really care for the pinots that the Hames Valley would produce, for instance. Just as it was clearly established early on in Monterey's modern wine history that the cabernet and merlot wrongly planted in the cooler areas were definitely NOT what the public wanted (well, except for a pitiful handful who place V-80 laced young St. Estephe from a poor vineyard in a cold and wet harvest and consumed too young at the zenith of their pyramid for red wine.)

Ditto, though not quite as neatly packaged for PN in Sonoma or Mendocino. Certain areas show profound promise and results. Other areas of Sonoma will never be, and never should be, prime for PN. Further, the Sonoma Coast and the Sonoma Valley are entirely different regions, so PN from one will be (or should be) very different from others.

So, as usual with wines, we're speaking in the most vague generalities, and it still comes down to individual pieces of land and individual winemakers. Sure, people will flock to the trends, and the places that can produce them...but even a good region is perfectly capable of producing the greatest schlock imaginable.

Thanks for the input. My intent was to test the hypothesis that the areas that produce the most Pinor Noir grapes are the ones whose conditions are best suitable for growing the grape; therefore, due the large number of acreage devoted to PN (i.e., Sonoma [RRV], Monteray), they would tend to produce the "best" PN. Of course, everything with wine is not what is seems ...

I've always held Carneros PN in high regard.

-Paul W.

My favorite CA region for Pinot Noir is the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County but I also enjoy many Pinots from Santa Barbara County and some from Carneros, Mendocino and Sonoma Coast. I don't have experience with Santa Cruz (except I guess Joseph Swan might fall into that category? and I really like Joseph Swan pinots.) One Monterey County Pinot Noir that was new to me in 2007 and that I really like was from Cima Collina (from the Chula Vina Vineyard). It's listed on their website for $28 which is a bargain compared to some of the $40, $50 pinots. Monterey County grows a lot of grapes due to the size of the county and the amount of farmland available--not necessarily the best quality. (It is also home to extensive plantings of lettuce, broccoli, garlic, strawberries, etc.) The Santa Lucia Highlands within Monterey County is noted for some pinots.

My favorite CA region for Pinot Noir is the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County but I also enjoy many Pinots from Santa Barbara County and some from Carneros, Mendocino and Sonoma Coast. I don't have experience with Santa Cruz (except I guess Joseph Swan might fall into that category? and I really like Joseph Swan pinots.)

No, Swan is a RRV producer. The most hyped SCM producer right now is Rhys/Alesia, but David Bruce, Santa Cruz Mountain Vyds and Villa Mt Eden have all made some interesting Pinot Noirs, too.

Mark Lipton

Thanks, Mark. I was confused about the geography. I have had some Villa Mt. Eden Pinots and also David Bruce. I've heard a lot about Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards and Rhys but have not tried them. I understand that the SCMV wines are long-living. (Also have had Bargetto Gewurztraminer but not other varieties from that winery.)

The trouble with Monterey---right now---is not so much in the land or the climate, but in the trends.

I think selected areas are clearly suited to Pinot Noir; it's just the prevailing philosophy/methodology drives towards ultra-ripe, ultra-rich, ultra-alcohol, ultra-perfumed, ultra-extracted styles of wine. And that's not what interests me in Pinot Noir.

Even some of the early adherents and champions of that style have backed away from it and now decry it. Hopefully, more will do so, although it will take a while to reverse or alter the trend. Christ, it was bad enough that Pinot Noir came to resemble over-cropped syrah; now it's verging on Lodi Zinfandel at times.

So although it's normal in America to try to push the envelope and go for "bigger is better", I don't think Pinot Noir benefits all that much from the approach. I like to believe Monterey can produce more restrained, more elegant, more acid driven, and less overly ripe wines----I've tasted them over the years, so know it can be done---but for right now that's not the direction they're going in.

So if I had to pick a style/place of California where I could say "This is the one place that most interests me in Pinot Noir"-----I'd have to say the combination of different vineyards in Russian River Valley/Sonoma Coast, where you get some of the sappy fatness in central RRV, combined with the spicy/tangy/earthy, almost hard and acid driven wines from the western lying areas of RRV all the way to the coast.

Nowhere else have I found that particular combination, and nowhere else consistently pleases me as much. And please note that I'm speaking to long term development, not single vineyard/single vintage heartstoppers

I'd like to agree with Hoke that RRV and especially Sonoma Coast are making some interesting Pinots right now--rich, yet complex, nuanced and balanced. For second place I would speak up for some of what goes on in Santa Barbara, north of Santa Barbara--Sta. Rita, and so on. A little more American, more friendly and fruitforward, many makers show a sense of restraint and balance, for what they're given (Melville, for example)--and the area does impart its own flavors to the grape, that coffee-cola-ey thing, which I always find interesting. Finally, whereever the hell Josh Jensen/Calera is (Santa Cruz mountains, no? as is also perhaps Chalone?), in my view, he makes consistently serious Pinot--focused, chiselled, almost always worth drinking.

Cheers!
Josh

Assuming that RRV is the best (and I do), I would go for Santa Barbara and Santa RIta Hills. I see some people championing Carneros but I have to say I've developed an aversion to those wine: they're just too much. (Everything.) I like a little mroe subtlety in my PN than Carneros seems capable of.
Tony

Assuming that RRV is the best (and I do), I would go for Santa Barbara and Santa RIta Hills. I see some people championing Carneros but I have to say I've developed an aversion to those wine: they're just too much. (Everything.) I like a little mroe subtlety in my PN than Carneros seems capable of.
Tony

That's a very odd comment, Tony, considering that Carneros is the coolest climate region of all, excepting perhaps Sonoma Coast and (maybe) SCM. Of the producers in Carneros, Saintsbury produces the PN that I find appealing most years, but Acacia and Domaine Carneros have also produced lovely PN from there, light and stylish. When I think of OTT PN from CA, I think of the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey Co, the Russian River Valley (Martinelli and Rochioli anyone?) and, yes, the Santa Rita Hills.

Contrarily yours,
Mark Lipton

Calera (Josh Jensen) I found to my surprise is based in San Benito County, Gavilan Mountains, Mt. Harlan AVA.

Not sure how to hyperlink/highlight posting but this is from October 9.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27377&p=234111&hilit=calera+mills#p233722

I was just about to mention Calera and the Mt Harlan AVA when I saw that JC did so just above. Also I'll echo sentiments on Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Carneros as being exemplary areas for Pinot Noir. I've yet to have a pinot from Monterey that was more than mediocre. Not that they don't exist, its just that 99% of the Monterey appelated wines I've seen to date have been of the middling bulk brand variety.

[James Roscoe]

I was just about to mention Calera and the Mt Harlan AVA when I saw that JC did so just above. Also I'll echo sentiments on Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Carneros as being exemplary areas for Pinot Noir. I've yet to have a pinot from Monterey that was more than mediocre. Not that they don't exist, its just that 99% of the Monterey appelated wines I've seen to date have been of the middling bulk brand variety.

When did Jon Webster appear here? My cover has been blown!
(I agree with him on this subject by the way.)

Assuming that RRV is the best (and I do), I would go for Santa Barbara and Santa RIta Hills. I see some people championing Carneros but I have to say I've developed an aversion to those wine: they're just too much. (Everything.) I like a little mroe subtlety in my PN than Carneros seems capable of.
Tony

That's a very odd comment, Tony, considering that Carneros is the coolest climate region of all, excepting perhaps Sonoma Coast and (maybe) SCM. Of the producers in Carneros, Saintsbury produces the PN that I find appealing most years, but Acacia and Domaine Carneros have also produced lovely PN from there, light and stylish. When I think of OTT PN from CA, I think of the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey Co, the Russian River Valley (Martinelli and Rochioli anyone?) and, yes, the Santa Rita Hills.

Contrarily yours,
Mark Lipton

Hi Mark,

It really depends on which producer from the Santa Rita Hills you are talking about for OTT pinots. Brian Loring, definitely. Wes Hagen, not really in my experience. I visited his Clos Pepe Estate Winery this past spring and although I would not call his pinots restrained, they definitely were quite burgundian in style for a CA pinot. I plan to do a horizontal comparison between a Loring Clos Pepe pinot and a Wes Hagen pinot someday to see how different they really are. From talking to Wes, he and Brian are always arguing about when to harvest the grapes. Needless to say, Brian opts for a later harvest date than Wes.