Santa Lucia Highlands is truly a special place for
winegrowing, particularly Burgundian varietals such as Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir. This premier cool-climate winegrowing district has over
fifty of the most famous premier Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards are
located here. Almost 80% of the vineyards here are dedicated to these
two Burgundian varietals, with many Rhone varietals occupying much of
the rest. On April 3 the Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans came
together at Mission Ranch Resort in Carmel to share some of the great
wines from this region with members of the wine trade. I know, a tough
job, but someone had to go taste these wines.
Twenty-four wineries were present at this event showing off some of
their most recent releases. A few of the wines reviewed here come from
estate vineyards that primary produce high quality grapes for other
wineries, but have also decided to produce some of their own excellent
wines.
Boekenoogen Vineyard and Winery is a family
owned and operated vineyard established in 1998 when John Boekenoogen
transformed his cattle ranch into a vineyard, producing outstanding
grapes that many local winemakers used to produce fine wines. A few
years later they opened a small boutique winery to produce about 5000
cases of their own wines. At this event they brought along their 2009 Chardonnay.
This wine is a lush wine with subtle green apple aromas leading on to flavors of apple, honeydew melon, and pineapple. The bright acidity and fruit coupled with a mineral quality leads on to a long pleasant finish.
The Boekenoogen 2009 Pinot Noir has a beautiful deep
red color with cherry, raspberry and cranberry on the nose and the
palate, followed by an abundance of spices including cinnamon and pepper
with vanilla flavors.
McIntyre Vineyards is proud of their
certified sustainable vineyards in Santa Lucia Highlands. Steve McIntyre
was farming in a responsible, sustainable manner long before such
practices became vogue. Much of the grapes are also classified as
organic or biodynamic also. McIntyre Vineyards helped set the
standards for sustainable farming in the area. They brought the only
Sparkling wine to the event, their L’Homme Qui Ris, Monterey’s first Methode Chamenoise style sparkling using Chardonnay and Pinot Noir estate grown fruit.
The McIntyre 2010 Chardonnay, both the “Estate” wine and their special hand-selected “Block K1” wine. The Chardonnaay Estate wine has a delightful complexity of apple, nectarine and lime flavors with nice minerality brightness on the palate. The Block K1 Chardonnay
kicks this up a notch with an intense nose and a silkiness mouthfeel
that delivers a wonderful toast and vanilla quality. This wine gets
better with each taste.
The 2010 Estate Pinot Noir from McIntyre has a strong fruit quality of red and black cherry, cranberry and a touch of plum. Again, the 2010 Estate Block 3 Pinot Noir is
in a higher class showing off what Santa Lucia Highlands wines can be
with a very intense nose of red and dark fruit, toasted oak and savory
spices. As you taste this wine you will love its complexity of various
fruits and a blend of spices resulting in a balanced but complex wine
with a perfect blend of tannins, fruit and spices.
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