2023 Dragonette Cellars Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills 750 ml

Of all the wineries we’ve discovered at Wine Access, we’d be hard pressed to think of one that has been more rewarding than Dragonette Cellars.

Run by John and Steve Dragonette and their friend Brandon Sparks-Gillis, the winery has been roundly praised by just about every critic who covers California. Antonio Galloni of Vinous has called their wines “truly world class,” adding, “and I don’t use those words lightly.”

Fiddlestix holds a special place in that story. It’s the first vineyard Dragonette ever sourced Pinot Noir from: John Dragonette managed the vineyard for two years before the winery was founded, and Brandon’s wife managed it for several years after. The 2023 is their 22nd harvest here—more than two decades of knowing every row.

Dragonette’s success has been due to the fact that they’re brilliant winemakers—but also because they only work with top-flight sites, and Fiddlestix is one of the very best Pinot vineyards in California. It sits toward the southwest of the Sta. Rita Hills, just across from Sanford & Benedict—the original Grand Cru of the appellation—with Sea Smoke and Rita’s Crown close below.

Brandon calls this stretch the Goldilocks zone. To the east lies Syrah country. To the west, the appellation turns severe, lashed by heavy wind and Pacific fog. Fiddlestix sits right between the extremes—enough wind to bring tension, but not so much that it punishes the vines. Its vines, well over 20 years old, are routinely the first Dragonette picks each year, pushed by an early budbreak and a naturally low crop.

The site leaves an unmistakable signature in the glass. Dragonette works with a light hand in the cellar, yet the wine comes out darker than you’d expect—the result of thicker skins formed under the region’s intense UV light, not heat. What they love most is the play of red and black fruit: dark, fragrant cherries in an almost Pacific Northwest register, generous on the nose but light on its feet. A savory, spiced edge runs through it, too—what Brandon calls “chaparral,” the Santa Barbara answer to garrigue. Power and elegance in equal measure.

The 2023 season made all of this easy. A cool year suited Dragonette’s approach perfectly, and conditions never turned extreme—wide picking windows let the team harvest at its own pace, bringing in fruit in the foggy dark before daybreak. Brandon calls it “kind of a dream vintage.” This is a brilliant bottle of wine. Savor it.