2016 Lumen Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County 750 ml

A Wine Enthusiast Editors’ Choice award already signifies a bottle that over-delivers on price, offering incredible value for the money. The 2016 Lumen Pinot Noir received the honor at its $36 SRP, and our $24 begs a whole new designation for this wonderfully bright, addictively perfumed wine—but “sold out” will likely beat us to the punch.

The only California treasure greater than this 94-point Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara County is its inimitable winemaker, Lane Tanner. A pioneer who helped put Santa Barbara Pinot on the map, it was no surprise to us last year when she was nominated for Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Award (aka a “Wine Oscar”) as Winemaker of the Year.

Internationally beloved for her unwaveringly elegant Pinot Noirs throughout the decades, Tanner was in great company alongside titans like Stéphane Derenoncourt, Jorge and Isaac Muga, Elisa Scavino, and Dave Phinney, but she stood out as the only one of the nominated vintners not known for big, bold Bordeaux, Rioja, Barolo, or Napa reds. Rather, Tanner is a superstar for pioneering cool-climate coastal expressions of Pinot Noir years before it was, well, cool. 

At $24, we can’t think of a better introduction to Wine Star-worthy talent than Tanner’s 2016 Lumen Pinot:

A light ruby hue belies an explosive and energetic bouquet teeming with wild red plum, dark raspberry, black cherry, and cranberry. A few swirls yield notes of wildflower, hibiscus tea, ruby grapefruit oil, and misty fern. Vibrant and youthful through and through, it dances across the palate between ripe red berry and floral tones, exuding grace and sophistication.

All-consuming is the ethereal feeling of purity and lift, a weightless transparency on the lingering finish that taunts you each time you put down the glass, as though you can think of nothing else until it’s time to take the next sip. 

For 16 years—well before the movie Sideways put Santa Barbara Pinot on the map—Tanner was also the only winemaker in the region dedicating 100% of her production to Pinot Noir. That gave her plenty of time to perfect her deft touch with the notoriously high-maintenance variety, earning her the alias the "Pinot Czarina."

That nickname has as much to do with her mentor, the Russian-born father of California wine, André Tchelistcheff, who promoted her to enologist on her very first day working in a cellar in the 1970s (when she didn’t even know what an enologist was). André liked her instincts and spunk as much as he did her chemistry degree, and her career was born. She went on to head winemaking at Firestone, Zaca Mesa, and the Hitching Post, where she made the very house Pinot that Paul Giamatti made famous in Sideways.

Since then, Tanner has become beloved for her distinctive minimalistic style, which was as radical to her peers in the 1980s and 1990s as it is celebrated today. She has always pushed boundaries in favor of elegance, understated oak influence, and low intervention, ensuring her Pinot is feminine, pure, and tantalizingly delicious.

We’d expect nothing less from the first independent female winemaker in Santa Barbara County.  Her foresight extended to ethical farming as well (1% of her profits go to eco-minded non-profits), and she continues to source exclusively from sustainable and biodynamic vineyards, which she credits for the marked liveliness of her wines.

Though she has never worked to actively promote her wines, Tanner has a loyal following, and serious (and even not so serious!) Pinotphiles know to buy everything she makes, every year. Fans of Sonoma’s more Burgundian-style Pinots and Santa Barbara’s finest will find much to love in this delicious 94-point Editors’ Choice 2016 Lumen, not least it’s price.