2013 Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)

Since Adam Lee spends a lot of time visiting and buying pinot noir from top vineyards up and down the West Coast he's a font of information on vintage conditions and vagaries. He told me that in 2012 winemakers were faced with grapes from "high yields?? and with really high juice-to-skin ratios." While that might suggest dilute wines on paper, he went on, "what's weird is that so many of the wines are now showing deep fruit and solid framework." Lee is another producer who thinks that as the vines here age "there's more natural concentration of flavor," which could account for more richness and depth than one would expect from 2012's conditions and crop levels. Along with many of his colleagues, Lee suspects that while the 2012s should age nicely and not fall apart any time soon, they will be best drunk over the next five to seven years. As for 2013, "it's a vintage that also gave a lot of fruit, like '12, and sugar levels were all over the place," so it's a tough year to generalize.?? The high yields and currently extroverted fruit, lowish acidity and soft tannins "definitely make you think that the wines will be at their best on the young side, which is always a safe bet until we figure out where the wines are going."

Siduri's 2012 Sta. Rita Hills Pinots from bottle came in mostly as expected based on the barrel tastings last year. Once again, I find considerable appeal in a straight appellation wine, in this case, the 2012 Sta. Rita Hills, which is absolutely delicious.