2016 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir - Byron Winery

Brilliant bing cherry, crushed lavender, rhubarb pie. Barely-ripe strawberry, mountain pine, orange peel. Dry forest floor and crunchy leaves, fragrant curry and exotic spice. Muddled cranberry, pomegranate, and tart raspberry preserve form an extremely high-toned core of plump yet ethereal fruit seamlessly intertwined with complex earth-infused spices. Soy sauce, seaweed, and mushroom continue the natural-toned umami parade aided by violet petal and wild sage. Strikingly aromatic, exhibiting remarkable delineation of flavors undercut by notes of soft sandy earth, ground cinnamon, and citrus-infused black tea. Fresh, juicy, and balanced, sitting at medium plus in body with mild tannin and elevated acidity. This 2016 Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir by Byron Winery is an outstanding spice-driven beauty from the Santa Maria Valley.

Santa Barbara's famed Santa Maria Valley centers around a stretch of sandy benchland that sits just about a dozen miles from the cold Pacific Ocean. This bottling, crafted by Byron Winery using Pinot Noir sourced from Julia's Vineyard at the heart of Santa Maria Bench, perfectly expresses the mesmerizing terroir of this unique appellation. Having been shaped using just two rows of some of the region's oldest vines this wine erupts in the glass with lifted and weightless yet thoroughly ripe fruit, but its real strength comes in its textbook expression of booming "Santa Maria spice". It is extremely complex and contemplative in nature yet also maintains a high level of inarguable yum-factor. Truly exceptional small-production Pinot here by one of the Santa Maria Valley's most notable producers.