2016 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir
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The 2016 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, from a site on the southern edge of the Sta. Rita Hills, is the flagship Pinot Noir of the estate and saw the standard 17 months in 15% new barrels. It's beautifully concentrated (which is a trait of this vineyard) with ample red currants, red cherries, spice box, forest floor, and crushed rock aromas and flavors. With medium to full body, a ripe, layered texture, good acidity, and sound underlying structure, it's going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 10-15 years.
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Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard offers lovely density and richness, with quite a bit of tannic intensity that is going to need time to resolve. Blue and purplish berry fruit, lavender, mint and spice all develop in the glass, but it is the wine's overall structure that stands out most. The 2016 is all class, but readers will have to be patient to see the wine at its very finest.
The 2016 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard from Gavin Chanin is excellent, wafting from the glass with a deep bouquet of potpourri, blackberry, cherry, spice and black tea. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, with the most depth and mid-palate volume of all Chanin's Pinot Noirs, with a lovely core of crunchy fruit and some chewy grip on the sapid, savory finish. This should develop nicely in the cellar for the better part of a decade.