2010 Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands

The 2010 Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands) is gorgeous. Juicy dark red berries, flowers, mint and spices flesh out in this radiant, expressive wine. Once again, this is simply one of the greatest values in California Pinot Noir. In 2010, the fruit was sourced from 33% Sierra Mar, 24% Rosella’s, 21% Pisoni, 19% Garys’ and 3% Soberanes. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2014. Adam Lee describes 2011 as the coldest vintage he has ever seen. Nevertheless, the 2011 Pinots are very, very pretty, and also in line with previous years in terms of their overall quality. Severe selection was the only way to do that, and it is quite clear that is exactly what Lee did. A higher percentage of barrels ended up in the appellation wines, a testament to the exacting standards at Siduri. I tasted all of the 2011s as final blends, from barrel. Lee planned to bottle the 2011s in August, 2012, with the exception of the Soberanes, Rosella’s and Garys’, all of which are a scheduled to go into bottle in January, 2013. The 2010 Pinots spent 10 months in barrel and were bottled in August, 2011. Lee told me his parcels experienced heat spikes in both August and September, but judging by the wines, he made the right calls before and after. Timing, as they say, is everything. Tel. (707) 578-3882; www.siduri.com