2015 Foxen Pinot Noir Solomon Hills Vineyard Santa Maria Valley 750 ml

Parker: “I Love This Vineyard”

The 2015 Foxen Pinot Noir Solomon Hills earned a head-turning 96-point score from Wine Enthusiast, making this single-vineyard gem not only the top-rated Foxen Pinot we have ever offered but also Enthusiast’s highest-rated Central Coast Santa Maria AVA Pinot of the 2015 vintage! Among some of the finest soils in Santa Barbara County is the Solomon Hills Vineyard situated in the westernmost stretches of the Santa Maria AVA. Here, vines are exposed to invigorating Pacific maritime influences that make this part of California one the West Coast’s most ideal regions for Pinot Noir. Even Jeb Dunnuck—writing for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate—declared “I love this vineyard” in a review of one of Foxen’s Solomon Hills wines. Few do single-site Santa Barbara Pinot like Foxen, and even fewer impress the critics like this one, bursting with a deep core of red fruit tinged with savory minerality and pepper spice. $62 on release— a nice saving at just $52.99 on cases here on Wine Access.

Our May trip down the California coast involved a few planned stops—the Hitching Post for a fatty woodfire-grilled ribeye, naturally, and a visit with the Foxen boys, Bill Wathen and Dick Doré. It also included an unplanned refresher course in what makes Santa Barbara the epicenter for California Pinot Noir: During a late afternoon trek out to Santa Maria Valley with Bill, we found ourselves walking among the vines at the exact moment when the sun disappeared below the hills to the west. Twenty minutes later, what was a sunny springtime walk in the vines turned into a sprint to the car to grab our Patagonia Micro Puff jackets. For all the time we spend in wine country, we’re no strangers to wide temperature fluctuations—but twilight in Santa Maria is another animal.

That’s why, when top winemakers want to craft exquisite, dark-red-fruit Pinot Noirs of both concentration and high-toned vibrancy, they come hat-in-hand to Solomon Hills in the Santa Maria Valley. First planted in the 1990s by the Miller family (who own Santa Barbara’s famous and nearby Bien Nacido Vineyard), the vineyard is the farthest west in Santa Maria—it is perfectly situated to receive early morning fog and stiff maritime winds from the roaring Pacific, which makes it one of the coolest Pinot Noir sites in the United States. The fog burns off, and the southern California sun showers warmth on the vines until the chilly night falls again.

The vines are planted in fine, sandy loam, which holds virtually no water and results in low-yields of BB-sized berries that show electrifying concentration and silky elegance. They are night-harvested by hand, destemmed and fermented. Aged for 19 months in French oak (of which 40 percent is new), the 2015 Solomon Hills boasts a beautiful red fruit core, with clove and cinnamon accents and tannins in perfect measure.

There’s a reason that Wine Access clients have been crazy about Foxen for years: every Pinot we score from Wathen and Doré is a gem. This one is something special. Don’t delay.