Wines

96 Points! The 2021 Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir is alive and energetic, svelte and composed. As I write this, I am sitting at the bottom of the Burn Cottage Vineyard in Lowburn, looking up the rows. This is a mineral, nuanced expression, with graphite and white tea, pomegranate pearls, raspberry licorice, rosehips and crushed pink peppercorns. This is what I came here for. It’s thrilling, lacy, delicate and focused. Exciting wine, exciting drinking. It sits on the palate nicely—evenly weighted, and it spools through the long finish... yes! 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork. - Erin Larkin, robertparker.com

96 Points! Medium ruby, the 2021 Pinot Noir Hillside Reserve opens with broody tones of flint and oolong tea leaves, with a core of cranberry, sour cherry, tangerine and Angostura bitters. The medium-bodied palate strikes a fine balance of generous, crunchy fruit and savory undertones. It has a frame of chalky tannins, mouthwatering acidity and a long finish with fine earthy accents. Yum! - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

96 Points! Very complex nose that reminds me of a steak in a hot pan. Then, with a bit of aeration, red-fruit and pepper aromas develop. Really concentrated on the full-bodied palate, but also very fresh and juicy, the beautifully crafted fine tannins complementing all this exactly. I love the sandalwood note at the very long, velvety finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! Rich and detailed, with a deep but graceful structure, offering rose petal, raspberry, orange peel and dusky spice flavors that build tension and polish toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2032. - Wine Spectator

96 Points! The 2021 Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard is fabulous. Bright, punchy and explosive, the 2021 captures the essence of this Santa Lucia Highlands site. Inky blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, licorice and mint saturate the palate. Even with all of its intensity, the 2021 retains terrific freshness and verve. This Capiaux wine emerges from the one parcel at Pisoni planted with own rooted vines. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

96 Points! The 2021 Pinot Noir Starscape is one of the most potent, virile wines in the range. These old vines planted in the 1960s with the wide row spacing typical of the era yields a decidedly potent, muscular Pinot. Most of the 2021s here are quite refined, but the Starscape is all about power and structural intensity. Dark blue/purplish fruit, lavender, graphite mocha and spice linger on the finish. This is a dazzling effort from Sean Capiaux. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

96 Points! The 2021 Pinot Noir Comptche Ridge is powerful and expressive, with pure scents of wild berries, lavender, Earl Grey tea leaves and complex undertones of aniseed and iodine. The medium-bodied palate is impressively concentrated, velvety and energetic, and it boasts a very long, highly perfumed finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

96 Points! When everything is right, and here it is, then Mercury can smell and taste like Grand Cru red Burgundy from further north. Enromous concentration and very fine tannins interlocked with dark minerality, the finish very energetic with so much drive. From vines planted in 1947 and 1956, sustainably grown with no use of herbicides. Drinkable now, but best from 2024. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! Both powerful and ethereal, this elegant, smoky, sour-cherry-imbued wine fills the palate with tangy, spicy flavors wrapped in grippy tannins and buoyed by nervy acidity. Aged only in neutral French barrels, it shows the classic tea and forest-floor aromas and dark plum and black-cherry flavors that expand with time in the glass. Best through 2030. - Wine Enthusiast

96 Points! Looking for a great red Burgundy and not afraid of little-known vineyard names? Here it is! Mind-blowing nose of red fruit with a touch of red-rose and subtle, spicy notes. Stunning concentration, but this is also dangerously silky, the danger being you could forget the rest of the world! Long, lingering finish that’s irresistibly sensual. Drink or hold. - James Suckling

96 Points! The 2021 Amor Fati Pinot Noir Murmur Vineyard, fermented in puncheons and matured 14 months in 10% new barrels, has a medium ruby-purple color and generous aromas of boysenberries and blueberries with accents of Earl Grey tea leaves, dried herbs and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate boasts a concentrated core of earthy fruits, fine, dusty tannins and energetic acidity that highlight detailed, spicy perfume on the long finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

96+ Points! I loved the 2019 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard. It's a rich, backward, relatively closed wine that's going to blossom with another 2-3 years of bottle age. Giving up Gevrey-Chambertin like notes of smoked black fruits, pomegranate, violets, spiced meats, iron, and leafy herbs, it's medium to full-bodied and has a beautiful mid-palate, building tannins, and a solid spine of acidity. It has plenty of ripeness and is certainly a California Pinot Noir, with beautiful fruit and purity. It needs a healthy decant if drinking any time soon, and it's going to hit prime time in another 2-4 years and have a solid decade of prime drinking. It's a gorgeous wine. - Jeb Dunnuck

95 Points! At the top of this estate site, the Eileen Vineyard sits adjacent to Eola's iconic Temperance Hill and stares down the barrel of the Van Duzer Corridor, where those Pacific winds take dead aim at this part of the AVA. The resulting wine is a study in Eola-Amity terroir, a combination of soil diversity and those famed winds that make this place possible. White pepper and crushed basalt aromas blend with violet florals and juicy cut blood orange. The palate is fleshy, with a core of dark fruit wrapped up in savoury elegance, white pepper, and spice from these stony hills carry the wine into its amply structured finish. - Decanter Magazine

96 Points! Deeply seductive, the 2021 Pinot Noir Eileen Vineyard opens with a burst of mentholated herbs, licorice and sweet autumnal spices. Juicy and broad upon entry, this envelopes the palate with ripe red and hints of blue fruit, giving way to suggestions of cola and lavender. Its mineral core comes forward through the finish, gaining tension through a blend of fine tannins and residual acids as spice and floral notes resonate throughout. The Eileen Vineyard is refined using 46% whole clusters and 34% new French oak barrels for eighteen months. - Eric Guido, Vinous Media

96 Points! The 2021 Pinot Noir Laurelwood District has a pale ruby-purple color and slowly unfolding aromas of cranberries, tangerine peel, pipe tobacco and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate is powerful and generous with concentrated fruit, grainy tannins, plenty of refreshing acidity and a long, spicy finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com