2014 Bernardus Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

A Grand Cru of Santa Lucia Highlands

It would be impossible today to make a list of the greatest Pinot Noirs without including the windblown, high-altitude Santa Lucia Highlands, home to “some of the New World’s most prized Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards” says Vinous. Two men—Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni—almost single-handedly helped to put SLH on the map.

This stunning 2014 bottling, compliments of Bernardus superstar winemaker Dean De Korth, hails from the Garys’ newest vineyard, Soberanes, described by Wine Enthusiast as “one of the appellation’s most esteemed properties.” We consider it a Grand Cru of the AVA. This 2014 Bernardus Pinot Noir of Soberanes offers a distinct snapshot of the vintage, delivering vibrancy and freshness characteristic of the region, and of this single-vineyard site. We’re calling it a new classic and one of De Korth’s great efforts. 

Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni are living legends in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Raised in farming families, their names are synonymous with a meticulousness in growing practices that verges on the compulsive. In 1997, they teamed up to plant Garys’ Vineyard, a 50-acre site exposed to cool Pacific breezes in Monterey County that has come to be known as a California Grand Cru. Wine Enthusiast would call it one of the top five Pinot Noir vineyards in the country.  

In 2006, the notorious duo planted a new vineyard, Soberanes, named after the 18th century family that pioneered the first expedition into California territory. Lying just a stone’s throw from their iconic Garys’ Vineyard, Soberanes’ rocky soil and astounding collection of heritage clonal selections has attracted the coast’s best wineries, including Kosta Browne, Siduri, Lucia, Testarossa, and Bernardus.

Bernardus visionary Dean De Korth knows Burgundian varieties intimately—earlier in his career, he returned to California from Burgundy armed with a resume that included stints with Comtes Lafon and Olivier Leflaive. A classicist, his wines are studies in textural richness, angularity, and mineral cut, and he has succeeded as few other have at bringing the Côte de Nuits to the Santa Lucia Highlands. From the moment he laid eyes on the 27 acres at Soberanes, he was all in.

Just miles from the roaring Pacific Ocean, the site’s stone-strewn soils stress the vines and lower yields, driving concentration. Stiff maritime winds take the bite out of Monterey’s summer sun, cleansing the vines while stretching out the growing season. That added hangtime paid enormous dividends in the superb 2014 vintage, making for one of the most refined, complex, and elegant California Pinots we’ve tasted in over 20 years.