2018 Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard

Adam Lee retains his grassroots, bootstrapper, friendly-next-door-neighbor vibe despite the resounding commercial and financial success of Siduri, Lee’s brainchild and former venture with Dianna Novy. He loves what he does, and he’s not afraid to keep pushing himself—not to mention, he’s good at it. Lee loves the Santa Lucia Highlands, which is why it’s the sole focus of the Clarice label. Additionally, he consults on a number of other projects, including Rombauer (he’s responsible for the recent advent of their Pinot production), Morét-Brealynn, Dial Tone and Phone Booth. Where Lee truly shines is in the high-quality, transparent, stylistically outlying wines he makes at Clarice. He’s not afraid of stems, and he’s not afraid to completely turn his own approach on its head from year to year, depending on what the vintage requires. We tasted through four vintages of his three Clarice cuvées—2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, all of which showed exceptionally well. If one thing is clear, these wines are built to last. The 2018s and 2019s are just beginning to open their eyes. These wines age like molasses, but that’s encouraging to see from such a relatively fledgling region. The 2022s saw Lee adjusting his winemaking significantly to combat the heat, greatly increasing whole clusters in all three Pinots in order to compensate for the structure he predicted the heat would impede. The stems are particularly noticeable in the 2022s, but tasting the 2018s and 2019s confirmed that those characteristics meld into the wines with time in bottle. Most notably, the 2023s are unbelievably great. Mark my words. The 2023 Clarice Pinot Noirs may very well turn out to be among the best wines the region has ever spawned.

Adam Lee, whose Siduri Pinot Noirs have long been quality standard-bearers for the Santa Lucia Highlands (and numerous other regions), launched this small personal project with an impressive 2016 vintage debut, followed by equally impressive 2017s. The 2018s are even better: a gorgeous set of three finely detailed and graceful Pinots, all sourced from the famed Rosella’s and Garys’ vineyards and made with a generous percentage of whole clusters compared to the Siduri bottlings. These are among the standout wines from what is shaping up to be a superb vintage. There is not much wine; availability is by mailing list only.