Spiced cherry, dried tree bark, ripe strawberry. Red plum, coriander seed, rhubarb pie. Fresh violet and lavender concentrate, crushed cardamom and nutmeg. Lifted, powerful, and expansive fruit immediately sets the tone, spilling juicy pomegranate and raspberry puree that toes the line of delicate Pinot typicity carefully without defaulting to over-saturation or jam. Crunchy fallen leaves and forest floor follow featuring a heavy dosing of earthy spice and just a touch of sage. Saline minerality courses throughout this voluptuous and curvy wine as it manages to maintain both structure and sex-appeal. Crowd pleasing and yummy while remaining lean and technically spot-on. This 2017 Cooper Jaxon Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir by Loring Wine Company is a brilliantly executed value-oriented Central Coast Pinot.

The Pinot Noir selections on any given grocery store shelf in America can be scary. Many of the wines on display under $25 tend to be mass produced corporate byproducts of time and energy spent on fanciful packaging and shelf placement instead of on the creation of the wine itself. These wines are typically ripe, jammy, and characterless, and are often heavily manipulated with artificial additives and engineered sweetness. This bottling, crafted by Loring Wine Company using 100% Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara County, is exactly the kind of $25 Pinot we wish everyone was making. While designed as a "second wine" to make use of fruit that didn't make the first cut, this wine is nearly as compelling as some of Loring's high-end offerings. It is big, friendly, and bright, but still wonderfully complex and varietally correct. Meiomi drinkers take note: you should buy this stuff instead.