Most of the greatest Pinot Noirs from this region IвЂ™ve tasted over the years have some connection to Martin Ray: Martin RayвЂ™s own Pinots from the вЂ50s to the early вЂ™70s, the Pinots from Mount Eden and the Pinots that Duane Cronin, now deceased, made from the Peter Martin Ray vineyard. A small adjacent vineyard was, however, retained by the Ray family. When Martin Ray lost control of his winery in the early 1970s, most of the vineyard he had planted went to the successor entity, Mount Eden. Following the advice of his mentor, Paul Masson, he subsequently sold the Masson Winery to SeagramвЂ™s and planted his own eponymous vineyard further up the hill from La Cresta, using budwood from La Cresta. Winegrowing in this area started in the mid-1850s, but Pinot Noir didnвЂ™t arrive until nearly the end of the 19th century, when Frenchman Paul Masson imported budwood from Burgundy (reputedly from the Grand Cru Corton vineyard) for his hillside vineyard La Cresta, above the town of Saratoga. The latter, of course, tends to be true of many wine regions. I think the reasons are a combination of factors, including the weather the fact that Dijon clones may not be the ideal clonal material here as compared to heritage clones, such as the Mount Eden clone and the fact that some of the areaвЂ™s winemakers are primarily hobbyists, and not professionals, whose wines do not appear to be as вЂњcleanвЂќ as they should be. At Pinot Paradise, of the 71 Pinots I tasted, I scored only 10, or 14%, 92 points or higher. Rita Hills, for example, that were mainly but not exclusively Pinot, of the 72 wines I tasted, I scored 28, or 39%, 92 points or higher.

At a recent tasting of an equivalent number of wines from Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Lucia Highlands, Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast). ThatвЂ™s significantly below the results compared to when I taste Pinots from other major regions (e.g., Sta. The majority, or 44, of the wines at the Pinot Paradise tasting scored (for me) at that level or below. According to CellarTracker, based on my 3,566 tasting notes so far on California Pinots, my average score is 89.35 points, so 89-90 points. The majority of Pinots from this region, however, score from average to below average.Д«y вЂњaverage,вЂќ IвЂ™m referring to my average score for California Pinot Noir. There are several other producers making some very good wines, in limited quantities, which I will list below. Rita Hills and the true Sonoma CoastвЂ“ where almost all the Pinot Noirs produced are at a very strong level, Santa Cruz Mountains currently has only two exceptional producers, Mount Eden and Rhys. Unlike prime locations for Pinot Noir in CaliforniaвЂ“e.g., Sta.

My tasting through wines from over half of the AVAвЂ™s more than 70 producers at this event last month reinforced a few conclusions IвЂ™ve reached about Pinot Noir from this region. IвЂ™ve attended four of these events over the years, and particularly enjoy the morning technical sessions, offered for the regionвЂ™s grape growers and winemakers. The Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association sponsors an annual event, Pinot Paradise, spotlighting the variety that represents about a quarter of the AVAвЂ™s production.

An equivalent amount of acreage is devoted to Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest being planted to an array of other grapes. Of that amount, about 25%, or roughly 375 acres, is planted to Pinot Noir. Vineyards are planted as high as 3200 feet, but the amount of land actually containing vines in this vast area is quite small-only about 1500 acres. Kevin Harvey surveying one of RhysвЂ™s Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards

2010 clone 5 santa barbara pinot noir