2016 Meniketti Pinot Noir Forever Tondre Grapefield Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

Sourced from one of the most famous vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, the 2016 Meniketti Forever Pinot Noir Tondré Grapefield captures the vibrancy that has made this sandy-loam vineyard a mecca for some of California’s best winemakers—and it no doubt ranks among the greatest single-site Pinot deals you’ll see.

Tondré Grapefield lies just across a dry creekbed from Soberanes Vineyard—a favorite of ROAR and Siduri—and Garys’ Vineyard, known for producing some of the most acclaimed Pinot Noirs in California. Its sloping hillside plots have yielded blockbuster cuvées for top producers like Wrath, Testarossa, Morgan, and La Rochelle.

Those wines reach from $60 to $80+. Meniketti's Pinot from the fog-cooled, mineral-rich site is a steal at its $48 SRP—but we’ve got it for a fraction of that. If you love the graceful, high-toned stylings of top Santa Lucia Highlands producers like Bernardus, Pisoni, and ROAR, there’s no smarter way to sample the same distinctive terroir than to cash in on this exceptional value.

Quiz the most influential winemakers working in the Santa Lucia Highlands about their favorite sites, and one of the first names you’ll hear is Tondré Grapefield. The vineyard’s renown is such that it captivated the interest of Dave Meniketti, lead man for the seminal rock band Y&T, who has found a second life turning out high-end microproduction wines from Monterey.

Dave’s touring career took him all over the world, with a number of detours into the most exclusive cellars of Burgundy. In Tondré Grapefield, farmed by a father-and-son team dedicated to organic viticulture, he found a site whose wines married Old World elegance with ravishing maritime concentration.

To help capture the essence of the site, Meniketti brought on winemaker Sabrine Rodems, who honed her edgy, intellectual style at estates like Scratch and Wrath—the source of “top-notch, finely etched wines” according to Vinous.

Mild conditions and low rainfall in the autumn helped Sabrine slowly ratchet up the concentration in this Pinot, working in a plush, velvety style that generously displays red and black fruit while giving an assertive lift to the aromatics.

Thanks to our connections, we have an industry-best track record when it comes to moving Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir. That fact, plus our passionate advocacy for this bottle, got us into a deal that most Pinot buyers wouldn’t believe was possible. It's single-site pedigree worth $60 or $80—in your cellar for less than $20.