Mt Pajaro Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2023
The Mt Pajaro vineyard was planted in 2012 and benefits from all their earlier learnings. These densely planted young vines produce expressive Pinot Noir with a resinous pine quality, a forest character that matches its surroundings, fragrant cherries and a touch of candied licorice. There’s lots of potential here evidenced by the superb texture to the fruit, a fine weave of flavours, with detailed, floral highlights, fine minerals, and touches of leaf tea and pine needles on the finish. This is an excellent Mt Pajaro with plenty of structure and a seam of chalky minerality running throughout.
critic reviews
The 2023 Pinot Noir Mt. Pajaro Vineyard is an exuberant, forward wine that wears its heart on its sleeve. Vinified with fully destemmed fruit and aged in 20% new French Oak, the Pajaro bursts from the glass with kirsch, exotic spice and dark cherry tones, accented by an unmistakable saline edge. There’s lovely mid-palate richness and seamless balance here. Silky yet upright, the 2023 is a wine without corners. Fantastic.
It has been fascinating to watch Mt. Pajaro come into its own alongside the more established Horseshoe and Alpine bottlings, and the 2023 Pinot Noir Mt. Pajaro Vineyard is a beautifully multidimensional iteration of this site. It opens with a beaming nose that melds herbal, spice-driven and floral notes with a red- and black-fruited core and distinctly oceanic overtones. The palate is fine-boned and deftly concentrated, releasing into an intense, searingly focused and deliciously rich finish propelled by vibrant acidity, pronounced salinity and refined tannic intensity.