2022 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard Block 8

Tucked in the hills of Santa Maria Valley, Foxen turns out world-class wines that routinely overdeliver. This year, the Chardonnays and Syrahs are especially impressive, a reflection of a vintage (2022) that was much more favorable for those varieties than it was for Pinot Noir. "We strive for perfection, but that was pretty hard in 2022," Bill Wathen commented. "The heat hit us hard right in the middle of the Pinot Noir harvest window, which made scheduling picks very tough. Once the heat subsided, we had a monsoon that dropped almost an inch of rain. It was pretty miserable to go to work every day without the marine layer. Own-rooted sites handled the heat bomb better.” Although the Chardonnays and Syrahs are more successful as a whole, the Pinots aren’t that far behind. There have been other years here where the Pinots have struggled more, which suggests that top producers may be getting more skilled in dealing with tough growing conditions.