2023 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir
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Making wine from Sanford & Benedict is a privilege. The fruit for this wine is from the original 1971 own-rooted plantings, the genesis of Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir. This vineyard has been tended from the start with love and care, resulting in vines that produce wines of amazing complexity and striking purity.
Our 2023 bottling continues the legacy of this historic site. The growing season offered ideal conditions—moderate temperatures with cooling fog influence from the nearby Pacific, just 10 miles away. The distinctive Botella clay loam and Santa Lucia shale soils impart a mineral backbone that has become the signature of this iconic vineyard.
We harvested in the pre-dawn hours when temperatures were at their coolest, hand-selecting clusters before a careful sorting at the winery. For the 2023 vintage, we fermented with 28% whole clusters to enhance aromatic complexity and structural framework. After a 6-day cold soak, native yeasts initiated a slow fermentation that we managed with minimal intervention—just one gentle punch-down daily to ensure delicate extraction. The wine remained on skins for 15 days and aged for 11 months.
This is a taught, crunchy pinot that shows its cool climate near the ocean on Santa Rosa Road. The 2023 displays a vibrant ruby color with garnet edges. On the nose, wild strawberry and Bing cherry mingle with crushed rose petals, orange zest, and the distinctive forest floor notes that are hallmarks of mature vine Pinot Noir. The palate combines red fruit purity with savory undertones—black tea, dried herbs, and a persistent stony minerality that speaks directly to the vineyard's terroir.
This wine has an energy and life that is hard to describe, and even harder to find; it is the result of the confluence of a special site, vine age, and a kind vintage. Fine-grained tannins and bright natural acidity provide tension and focus that will allow this wine to evolve beautifully over the coming decade, though its immediate charm and balance make it irresistible now.
Our 2023 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict is energetic, lean, and expressively aromatic. It captures the essence of S&B in a bottle—a testament to why this historic vineyard continues to produce some of California's most compelling Pinot Noir
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