Santa Lucia Highlands:
Steely and Steadfast in 2022

BY BILLY NORRIS |&nbsp;AUGUST 29, 2024Additions: January 30, 2025 -&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+bruliam+wines">Bruliam Wines</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+busy+signal">Busy Signal</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/producers/common-thread?article_id=4221&amp;sort=vintage&amp;sortDirection=false&amp;page=1&amp;perPage=25&amp;displayType=wine">Common Thread</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+landmark+vineyards">Landmark Vineyards</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+moret-brealynn">Morét-Brealynn</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+phone+booth">Phone Booth</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://v1.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=santaluciaaddsjan2025+shared+notes">Shared Notes</a>It’s hot—hotter
than it used to be and getting even hotter. I bet you’ve noticed. For industries
directly related to the whims of Mother Nature and dependent upon her
cooperation—say, viticulture—things are growing evermore tenuous. Up and down
the West Coast of the United States, the 2022 growing season was a doozy,
marked in many cases by late-season extreme heat that threw a gigantic wrench
into the end stages of ripening, causing a domino effect of challenges in vineyards
and wineries. This heat spared very few (if any) regions in California, but one,
in particular, had an extra layer of armor for the battle: the Santa Lucia
Highlands.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938757797-Vista_copy.jpg">Looking east over the Salinas Valley from
Sierra Mar Vineyard. 

The SLH—A
Refresher

Stretching southeast
to northwest for 18 miles, the Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH) is essentially one
long, narrow strip of vineyards that ascends halfway up the eastern side of the
Santa Lucia Range, situated on the western edge of the Salinas Valley. It
splits into two distinct sectors: the warmer, higher-elevation, rockier South
Bench and the cooler, less dynamic North Bench. The SLH is essentially hidden
in plain sight, only a few miles from Highway 101, but barely discernable
through the ever-present dust churned up by the tractors working the agricultural
fields on the valley floor. The Salinas Valley, better known as “The Salad Bowl
of the World,” is a farming mecca, boasting incomparably fertile soils that yield
more than half of the nation’s lettuce, in addition to 50+ other fruit and
vegetable crops.<a target="_blank" href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724939110114-SLH+Garys%27+Vineyard+Highlight.png"><img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724939070003-SLH+Garys%27+Vineyard+Highlight_copy.png"></a>The Pisoni/Franscioni families’ two existing joint ventures, Garys’ and Soberanes, and the site of their third in development, WindRock. 

Monterey Bay sits
to the north, resting atop what is colloquially known as the Blue Grand
Canyon, the largest submarine canyon on the Pacific Coast. Its roughly 300
cubic miles of icy-cold water reach depths of 2.5 miles, generating a
super-chilling surface effect that functions like a gigantic fog machine. As
the southern end of Salinas Valley heats up during the day, the warm air rises,
pulling that impossibly thick fog down from the bay and blanketing the entire
corridor from roughly 10pm to 10am—an effect known as the thermal rainbow. A
few hours after the fog recedes, by the early afternoon hours, a chilling sustained
wind roars down the valley and up the highlands, usually between 20-30mph. The
pattern rarely diverges.

As for the
vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, many of which sit either right at or just
above the inversion layer, it’s fairly easy to understand the progression and
its impact on vines: fog rolls in (it’s cold), sun comes up (slightly warmer),
fog burns off (warmer still), wind kicks in (warmth recedes), sun goes down
(it’s getting chilly), fog rolls in (it’s cold)…Rinse and repeat. This makes
for long, reliable growing seasons with extended hang-time, which allows the fruit
to develop thicker skins, ergo, more concentrated flavors and firmer tannins. The
SLH is a proper cool-climate region, but the world is warming up around it.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938800446-Pisoni_copy.jpg">Morning fog burns off over the undulating
hills of the Pisoni Estate. 

A Race to
the Finish in 2022

The 2022
growing season got off to a late start, with flowering and budbreak both
occurring slightly behind schedule, but things quickly accelerated. Temperatures
turned warm and stayed warm throughout the late spring and early summer months.
It was immediately apparent that yields would be low, which is common following
a prolific vintage like 2021. Still, many growers believe that accumulated
drought stress from the last ten or so years was the real culprit. Yields
across the region were down by about half, which pushed ripening along at a
faster clip. Rainfall, typically an insignificant 12-14 inches, was only a
measly 6 inches.

The rubber
met the road in the run-up to Labor Day, when forecasted temperatures above 100°F
put everyone on high alert. Producers began the scramble to cull together enough
manpower to get the fruit off the vines as quickly as possible. At the Pisoni Estate, a harvest can typically span over a
month because of the complexities of the blocks, but in 2022? Four days. “We
saw the heat coming and said, let’s not take any chances,” said Mark Pisoni. Because
of the warmth of the rest of the season, many sites were ahead of the curve
with phenolic and sugar ripeness anyway, so if the fruit proactively came off
earlier than usual, no harm, no foul.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938825953-Soberanes_copy.jpg">A block of Chardonnay leased to Patz &amp;
Hall at Soberanes Vineyard, with the Santa Lucia Range in the background. 

Alas, only
one day crested the three-digit mark—101°F to be exact—followed by four
consecutive days above 94°F. Compared to several days well above 100°F (as high
as 120°F) in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara, it becomes clear that the SLH got
off relatively easily. Interestingly enough, the low temperatures got stuck between
65-70°F in the overnight hours. Adam Lee of Clarice Wine Company pointed out, “You can see that the highs weren't horrible—certainly not
compared to Sonoma County. But the lows didn't allow for much non-ripening
time.” In essence, the fruit was near the finish line, then the heat kicked in
and stomped the accelerator, and it didn’t get cold enough at night to reset
the scales and stop sugars from marching forward.

Heat
Stress? What Heat Stress?

The Pinot
Noirs, Chardonnays and Syrahs of the 2022 vintage are, somewhat surprisingly,
relatively unaffected, tending to be wines of both immediacy and ample structure.
The 2022 Pinot Noirs are generously fruited, approachable, bright, fresh and
muscular—all hallmarks of the region, if maybe a little more open for business
right out of the gate than usual (surely a function of the warmth). As a generalization,
both reds and whites possess slightly lower acids across the board, but the tannins
in the reds (the first place I tend to look for signs of ripening issues) are
refined and polished. There is nothing about these wines as a whole that feels
austere, stunted, under/overripe or heat damaged. The outliers seem to have
resulted from winemakers attempting to make lighter wines than the season
wanted to yield. In some cases, those oddly light wines were born of fruit
picked excessively late and heavily adjusted in the winery.

Growers and
producers are painfully aware of the detrimental effects of heat at harvest
time, especially for thin-skinned varieties (I’m looking at you, Pinot Noir),
but honestly, these wines don’t show it. If anything, the least successful offerings
in 2022 are an overcompensation for a problem that never fully manifested.

Making great
wine, especially in a changing climate, is a juggling act that lives at the intersection
of skill, luck and alchemy. Sometimes Mother Nature is full of surprises.
Winemaker Jeff Pisoni mused, “A fun anecdote—There’s
more tannin and dry extract in 2022 than in 2021. I was shocked when we were
measuring all this stuff out of fermentation. We have a 25-year history to try
to make sense of it and attempt to come up with some rationale. But as much as
we study, sometimes, like in 2022, we just don’t know. That one…I don’t have a
theory.”<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938850589-Escolle_copy.jpg">Young plantings at Escolle Vineyard,
Caraccioli Cellars’ estate property. 

The 2022
Chardonnays are consistently solid, though I don’t believe the variety is the
strongest performer here (except for the 2022 Soberanes Chardonnay from ROAR,
which is on another level). The wines are strong across the board but less site-transparent
than the Pinots. Caraccioli Cellars’ sparkling 2018 Brut Cuvée, a blend of Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir, straddles both worlds; it’s on par with the finest sparkling
wines being made anywhere in the United States.

I will also echo
Antonio Galloni’s sentiment from last year’s report: Syrah is the true
superstar of the SLH—if only the market would embrace it. Thick-skinned and utterly
resistant to the effects of heat, Syrah typically doesn’t see harvest until
late October or even November. Heat spikes in August and September only deepened
Syrah’s fruit character in 2022—it remained unilaterally, defiantly unfazed (the
phrase “’Tis but a scratch” comes to mind). Muscular, powerful and
brooding, Syrahs from SLH possess all the greatest varietal characteristics:
bright acids, undeniable structure, aromatic expressiveness and fruit that runs
the gamut from red to blue to purple to black. The 2022 Syrahs are pretty
unyielding today, but offerings from Lucia by Pisoni, Cattleya Wines, ROAR and Caraccioli Cellars (as
well as Odonata, which is just outside the AVA boundary) are simply great. Tasting two exceptional older vintages
of ROAR Syrah Rosella’s Vineyard (2018 and 2015) next to the current release,
2022, only served to confirm that Syrah belongs here.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938879669-Franscioni+Fam_copy.jpg">Odie (the dog), Nick, Gary and Adam Franscioni
(and Winemaker Scott Shapley, not pictured) turned out the three wines of the
vintage in 2022. 

All told, the
Santa Lucia Highlands 2022s are as reliable as ever. The best wines of the
vintage are truly great, but the consistency in the face of adversity is a
testament to the region’s resilience. This bodes incredibly well for the
viability of continued successful winemaking here in the decades to come.

I also tasted
a few wines from 2023, all pointing to a vintage in line with what the rest of
California experienced: beautifully long, balanced and devoid of adverse
events—a winemaker’s dream. A few 2023s tasted from tank prior to bottling,
namely Adam Lee’s three Pinot Noir cuvées for Clarice, show the potential to rank
amongst the best the region has ever turned out. As well as the Santa Lucia
Highlands performed in the far-less-than-favorable conditions of 2022, 2023 may
very well turn out to be a total head-turner.

On the
Horizon

Driving
through the region, one quickly notices the absence of more commercial “wine
country infrastructure.” The area has precious few production facilities and
even fewer tasting rooms. There are no hotels (luxury or otherwise) nearby, but
a plan is in the works to build a 200-room resort facility in the SLH tied to a
property at the southern end of the AVA. It received county approval but is
hamstrung by post-COVID logistical challenges. Depending upon who you ask, the
prospects of it ever happening are questionable at best, but it would certainly
provide a home base for more oenophile traffic in the region. Is that a good
thing or a bad thing? Ask 15 producers and expect 15 different answers.

New vineyard
developments are few and far between here, but another joint venture between
the Pisoni and Franscioni families has entered production. WindRock (ever so
cleverly named because of its extreme windiness and rockiness) sits in the same
footprint as the team’s other two co-owned properties, Soberanes and Garys’. Planted
in 2020, the first fruit came off the vines in 2023 and went into ROAR’s
appellation-level bottling. Based on the development and farming pedigree here,
this is clearly a site to follow. Vineyard-designate releases are on the
horizon in the coming years once the vines grow in age.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724938927073-Adam+Lee_copy.jpg">Adam Lee showed a compelling
set of 2022s and 2023s, but the 2023 Pinot Noir Gary’s Vineyard, tasted from
tank prior to bottling, is a stone-cold stunner. 

Carrying
the Torch

Obviously,
I’m stepping into big shoes in assuming coverage of this region. After meeting
and tasting with almost every grower and producer in the SLH, it is evident
that Josh Raynolds’ passing left a massive void, but it’s also abundantly clear
why he loved this place so much. In my first visit to the region, I was moved
by the deeply collaborative, almost tribal spirit, surely informed by the
traditional farming ethos of the Salinas Valley. Honorable stewardship of the
land is of the utmost importance, upheld by nearly everyone here through
investment in sustainable practices and biodiversity. Vineyard leases are still
handshake deals—lessees work with the same rows in the same blocks every year,
as opposed to prized portions being shuffled around to whoever writes the
biggest check. Everybody here knows everybody. Collaboration and mutual respect
are built into the region’s DNA. Gary Franscioni (one of the patriarchs of the
SLH) explained, “Gary Pisoni [another patriarch] and I went to high school
together in Gonzales in 1971. Our fathers went to school together in 1937.
We’re longtime family friends, but at our core, we’re generational farmers.”

Adam Lee
added poignantly, “The Santa Lucia Highlands is a
throwback to earlier times. Here, growers can tell you stories about what
vintages were like because their fathers told them what the bean harvest was
like in a certain year. In the SLH, grandchildren learn their numbers by
counting clusters on vines. And sustainability isn't a catchword; rather, it
really means farming the land in a way where it can be passed down from
generation to generation."

Either
they’re all drinking the Kool-Aid, or there’s something truly special about
this place. My money’s on the latter.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1724945617902-The+island_copy_COVER2.jpg">“The Island” at Sierra Mar Vineyard, set
precariously on the mountainside in the South Bench of the SLH. 

I tasted the
wines for this report in July and August 2024 in the Santa Lucia Highlands and in follow-up tastings with producers conducted via
video conference from my home office in Florida. I’ve also included some
wines from adjacent AVAs, including Arroyo Seco, Monterey County and a few
extensions of projects helmed by SLH winemakers in the Sta. Rita Hills and
Sonoma County. © 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-lucia-highlands-cool-climate-excellence-in-2021-nov-2023">Santa Lucia Highlands: Cool-Climate Excellence in 2021</a>, Antonio Galloni, November 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-lucia-highlands-back-to-back-greatness-in-2018-2019-may-2022">Santa Lucia Highlands: Back-to-Back Greatness in 2018 &amp; 2019</a>, Josh Raynolds, May 2022 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/vinous-santa-lucia-highlands-map-behind-the-scenes-jan-2021">Vinous Santa Lucia Highlands Map: Behind the Scenes</a>, Antonio Galloni, January 2021 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/2018-santa-lucia-highlands-what-a-difference-a-year-makes-oct-2020">2018 Santa Lucia Highlands: What a Difference a Year Makes</a>, Josh Raynolds, October 2020

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social