2009 Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills

The 2009 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is a pretty wine. Striking aromatics meld into layers of expressive fruit in this vibrant, beautifully delineated Pinot. This is a gorgeous, accessible Pinot to drink now and over the next few years. The Sta. Rita Hills is 2/3rds Cargasacchi and 1/3rd Clos Pepe, essentially a selection of barrels that did not go into the vineyard-designate bottlings. The wine was fermented with approximately 25% whole clusters.

The 2009 Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills is a pretty wine. Striking aromatics meld into layers of expressive fruit in this vibrant, beautifully delineated Pinot. This is a gorgeous, accessible Pinot to drink now and over the next few years. The Santa Rita Hills is two-thirds Cargasacchi and one-third Clos Pepe, essentially a selection of barrels that did not go into the vineyard-designate bottlings. The wine was fermented with approximately 25% whole clusters. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015. Husband and wife team Adam Lee and Dianna Novy make some of the most compelling wines in the Central Coast. The Siduri label focuses on Pinot Noir, while the Novy label (Dianna’s maiden name) is used for all other varieties. The strengths are the Pinots from the Santa Lucia Highlands. Another strength is the regional Pinots, which are also some of the finest values readers will find in American Pinot Noir (and Syrah under Novy). The single-vineyard designates are the best barrels from each site, while barrels that don’t make the cut go into the straight Santa Lucia Highlands and the Santa Rita Hills bottlings, a pretty straightforward approach. The only thing is that sometimes blended wines can be greater than the sum of their individual parts, which is why this approach is still used by a small number of traditionally minded producers in regions such as Piedmont and the Rhone. The Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Rita Hills Pinots are without question the wines that offer the biggest bang for the buck here. The other wines are more variable across both labels, especially as one moves away from the Santa Lucia Highlands. I tasted the 2010s from tank, where the wines were awaiting imminent bottling, plus a selection of 2009s from bottle. The 2010s are the product of an unusual vintage. Vintage 2010 was, on average, a cool growing season with some heat spikes towards the end of the maturation cycle. These conditions resulted in wines with both higher sugars and acidities relative to the 2009s. Vintage 2009 was much more consistent across the board. The harvest took place between September 7 and October 12. Adam Lee reports he had more physiological ripeness in 2009 than in most years and was therefore able to use more whole clusters than in any year since 2005. Tel. (707) 578-3882; www.siduri.com