2014 Booker Vineyard RLF Pinot Noir 750 ml

Eric Jensen Eyes Santa Lucia’s Lunch

We don’t often lead with full blurbs from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, but when a review exhibits a rare degree of high praise, we let it do the talking. This is one of those cases:

“A change up from the 100% Grenache cuvees of the past, the 2014 Rlf is 100% Pinot Noir, and it’s a damn good one as well. Sporting a deeper ruby color and offering up overflowing notes of black raspberries, toasted spice, sweet oak, forest floor and a touch of marine-like saltiness, this beauty is medium to full-bodied, sexy, seamless and layered on the palate, with a terrific finish. Hats off to winemaker Eric Jensen, who’s known as a Syrah and Grenache guy, for this smokin’ effort. It should drink nicely through 2024 (although there’s no need to hold off). 95 points.”

For those not yet in the know, allow us to introduce Booker Wines’ Eric Jensen: Paso Robles’ star winemaker and the man The Wine Advocate has recently credited with producing “some of the most impressive releases coming out of California.”

A former broker and concert promoter, Jensen tired of the glitzy O.C. Newport Beach life and decamped in 2001 to the dusty rancher-cowboy town of Paso Robles, where he and his wife had married years before. Bitten hard by the wine bug and obsessed with farming his own fruit, he apprenticed with Saxum’s Justin Smith, who would be featured on the cover of Wine Spectator in 2011, heralded as “The New Face of California Rhône Reds.” Originally Jensen only intended to sell grapes, but by 2005 he decided to start releasing his own wines.

Jensen was a critical darling from the start, recognized for his astonishing virtuosity with Rhône varietals. Critics unanimously cited him as one of the top two or three producers of the region. His now-iconic “Fracture” release, a 100% Syrah, pulled down scorching 100- and 99-point scores from The Wine Advocate, while his 100% Grenache “The Ripper” release consistently rang in 98- and 97-point reviews. Effusive adjectives piled up and allocations disappeared. Aside from the small percentages Jensen sets aside for restaurants, most of his wines vanish on release.

Long story short, Jensen had it made. But following in Paso Robles’ cowboy outlaw tradition, he’s not the type to stay in his lane.

“Sure, I’m known for Syrah and Grenache,” he told us, before cracking a wolfish grin. “But the thing is, I’m a competitive guy. I wanted to see how I could compete in varietals that people don’t associate me with.”

2014 gave Jensen just such an opportunity. The full amount of Grenache he needed for the usual RLF blend didn’t set, so he looked elsewhere and was soon glad he did. He found that the Pinot grapes from that vintage were, in his words, “unbelievable.”

For the RLF Pinot Noir, Jensen pulled from three top vineyards for the varietal. Two of them, Santa Rita Hills’ Duvarita and Derbyshire in San Simeon, are among the closest commercial vineyards to the Pacific Ocean, infused with brisk maritime breezes. The third was Talley’s Stone Corral plot in Edna Valley, which boasts the longest and coolest growing season in the state.

Drawing on this excellent crop of fruit from 2014’s boom harvest in California, Jensen set out to craft a big, bold, densely textured, and flamboyant Pinot Noir that would compete with the top-rated Pinots of the Santa Lucia Highlands. And because he was releasing it through his more price-conscious RLF label, he wanted to do it for under $50.

That chart at the top should tell you all you need to know about whether Jensen succeeded. RLF weighs in on Parker’s top Pinot Noirs of 2014 at HALF OR A THIRD of the price for its competitors. Sonoma County and Santa Lucia can officially count themselves put on notice.

The 2014 RLF Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is brilliant ruby in hue. Lavish aromas of raspberry, licorice, and smoke. Rich and ultra-focused on the attack, the core is packed with crushed-red-fruit preserves, cherry, and violets. Sweet and juicy, yet wonderfully youthful and high-toned, finishing with Burgundian focus and persistence.

The cards are all on the table on this one. A thrilling, richly textured, 95-point Pinot Noir from one of Robert Parker’s most lavishly praised critical darlings — at a FRACTION of the price for comparable wines. $44 from WineAccess, just 720 bottles. We recommend going all in.