2017 Pinot Noir Escolle Vineyard

This small, family-owned winery has quickly made a name for itself by producing impressively complex sparkling wines with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown in their painstakingly maintained and farmed, 124 acre Escolle Vineyard. Located in the northern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation, the majority of fruit, is sold off to neighboring wineries, with the rest used here to make both still and sparkling wines. Extended aging on the lees, usually for around 48 months, makes these wines stand toe-to-toe with any New World sparklers that I know, not to mention plenty of Champagnes. That’s not entirely surprising given the fact that Scott Caraccioli had the opportunity to work alongside Michel Salgues, of Roederer Estate and the first winemaker here, for eight years, from 2009 until 2017, when he took the reins.