2016 Foxen Winery Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard Santa Maria Valley 750 ml

There’s a reason Wine Access members have been crazy about Foxen for years: Every Pinot Noir we score from this beloved Central Coast winery is a knockout. Always a critical darling, this “thrilling” 2016 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir is something truly special, with its 96-point score and a haunting flavor profile that absolutely floored us when we tasted it. 

One sip of this seamless, medium-bodied but oh-so-concentrated single-vineyard wine, and it becomes clear that you’re drinking the crème de la crème of California Pinot Noir. Attractive aromas of black cherry, kola nut, black truffle, baking spice, and dried herbs beckon you in. An elegant palate adds deep layers of dried cherry, leather, and forest floor, with a firm finish of silken tannins that left critic Jeb Dunnuck punctuating his rave review with a simple “Bravo!”

When Dunnuck waxed in the Wine Advocate, “I continue to be blown away by this estate,” he was hardly alone. Robert Parker himself said, “Foxen is one of my favorite wineries in Santa Maria,” while Antonio Galloni wrote, “I always look forward to tasting the Foxen wines, as they are loaded with class and personality across the board.” 

Co-proprietor Jenny Doré credits the 100% Pommard clone plantings in Julia’s Vineyard as the reason behind the wine’s sweet leather, earth, “hard spice” character, and velvety texture. “There is an old-world quality to this wine that we love,” she told us recently when we caught up with her to taste this 2016. 

In 1995, Foxen co-proprietor Dick Doré discovered a fan of his wines in Cambria Estate’s legendary owner, the late Jess Jackson (of Jackson Family Wines). Jackson was so impressed with Foxen wines that he wanted in—they struck a handshake deal on the spot, granting Doré access to the oldest blocks from Julia’s Vineyard on Jackson’s Cambria Estate. 25 years later, that informal agreement still stands, and Julia’s Pinot Noir remains one of Foxen’s most coveted limited-production bottlings, primarily sold through the tasting room and wine club. 

We struck a handshake deal of our own—to take as much of this Julia’s Vineyard as we could pry away from the tiny tasting room allocation. 

2016 was declared “a banner year for Central Coast Pinot Noir” by Wine Enthusiast. The vintage welcomed the return of rains to the Golden State, flushing the soils a bit and breathing new life into the wines. The growing season started early due to warm spring weather but mellowed out later into summer, allowing for proper maturation and enabling wines like the 2016 Julia’s Vineyard to develop all those nuanced spice and earth notes, adding complexity to its deep berry character. 

There’s no shortage of complexity when the grapes come from the prized Julia’s Vineyard. Located just south and downhill from the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, the Julia’s sits in the prime middle of the alluvial Santa Maria Valley bench, where the diurnal temperature shifts are ideal for creating elegant acids in Pinot Noir.  

Even without its head-turning 96-point score, there’s something special about this single-vineyard Pinot Noir and the winery behind it. And it’s not just the critics and Wine Access members who can’t get enough—our Wine Enthusiast “40 Under 40 Tastemaker” friends behind Bay Grape, one of the Bay Area’s hottest wine bars, love the estate so much that they named their only son Foxen after it. 

That’s saying something. And when it’s one of the top-rated Foxen Pinots we have ever offered from some of the finest soils on the Central Coast? That’s saying something else: Act fast.