2012 Bernardus Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Santa Lucia Highlands is sold out.

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  • 92 pts Wine Advocate
    92 pts RPWA
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2012 Bernardus Pinot Noir Sierra Mar Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

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  • Curated by unrivaled experts
  • Choose your delivery date
  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

“Pisoni Clone” Pinot Noir at Gary Franscioni’s Sierra Mar

The 44-acre Sierra Mar Vineyard ekes out a small crop of the most sought after Pinot Noir on the coast. Production is divided among a handful of superstar wineries, including Kosta Browne, ROAR, Bernardus, and Siduri.  

Winemaker Dean De Korth’s 2012 Bernardus Pinot Noir “Sierra Mar” is a masterpiece, earning 92 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate for its lavish wild-berry intensity, high-toned persistence, and silken texture.  $58 on release. At just $27/bottle today, we’re not SUGGESTING that De Korth’s 2012 “might be” the finest under-$30 Pinot Noir of the last 12 months. We’re telling you that it IS just that!

Here’s why.

Sierra Mar Vineyard is located on the southeastern slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands, six miles south of the Garys’ Vineyard. The panoramic 44-acre site was originally part of a 420-acre cattle ranch that had been in the Vosti/Franscioni family for four generations. In 2007, driven by what Franscioni believed to be the site’s potential for high-altitude Pinot Noir growing, the family broke ground. Perched at just over 1,000 feet in elevation, remote and fairly inaccessible to all but the few head of longhorn cattle who called it home, Sierra Mar is the most “extreme” vineyard development project ever contemplated on the breezy slopes of Santa Lucia Highlands.

Franscioni chose two Pinot Noir clones for Sierra Mar, the celebrated “Pisoni Clone” and Dijon clone 828. Working closely with winemaker De Korth, in what has been described as the “near perfect” 2012 vintage, the vineyard crew hand-picked and hand-sorted grapes — first on the vine before picking, and then on the sorting table. De Korth took it from there, practicing non-interventionist cellar protocol, fully destemming clusters and then gently pumping them into small fermenters retaining a maximum of whole berries. Each vat was then inoculated with specially selected yeasts and hand-punched or pumped over twice daily through fermentation. Once primary fermentation was complete, De Korth gently pressed the solids into the free-run wine. Barrel aging was carried out in French oak (40% new), purchased from Burgundy’s finest artisan coopers: Sirugue, Damy, Billon, and Cadus.

The 2012 Bernardus Pinot Noir Sierra Mar really showcases what’s so extraordinary about the fruit coming off this superb vineyard. Brilliant dark-ruby. Absolutely lavish aromatically, with spicy scents of black raspberry, black cherry, violets, and plenty of sweet spice. Velour-like in texture (a Pisoni signature trait), filled with an ultra-rich, high-toned mix of crushed red fruits, black cherry jam, and slight hint of blood orange, braced with excellent coastal acidity, tension, and persistence. Drink now-2024.

92 points from Parker’s Wine Advocate. $58 on release. $27 today — 53% off. 480 bottles are up for grabs.