2023 OLG Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills 750 ml

Dave Phinney—the visionary behind Orin Swift and The Prisoner—has sourced vineyards in up and down California. Napa Valley. Sonoma. Mendocino. Santa Barbara. Widely acclaimed wines, all of them. And yet none of those vineyards have been his own, planted and dialed in to his winemaking specifications.

That’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard, which Vinous recently mused might “be the most marginal site in the entire Sta. Rita Hills.” They also said the vineyard is “beginning to turn out some of the most character-driven wines in the whole region,” and the wonderfully layered and aromatic 2023 OLG Pinot—which dazzled Vinous and Wine Enthusiast to the tune of 95-point scores—is evidence of that. 

Phinney is no stranger to excellent Central Coast vineyards, but it was this row-crop farm in Sta. Rita Hills, complete with rustic barns, that captured his boundless imagination. After purchasing it in 2015, his team spent two years renewing the soil with compost and cover crops before planting a single vine. They selected Pinot clones for each specific site, paired rootstocks with various soils and exposures, and laid out blocks the match fermenter size. 

It was everything the iconoclast winemaker needed to turn out showstoppers. 

And with the 2023 OLG Pinot Noir, he has delivered. It’s masterfully balanced, showing Phinney’s trademark opulence while maintaining the region’s vibrant acidity. Aromatically rich with roses, kola nut, pomegranate, black tea, and forest floor, it hits the palate with expressive fruit and spice, cast over a bed of silky tannins. 

Sta. Rita Hills sites give notoriously low yields, and that’s especially true at OLG. The sandy-loam and diatomaceous earth soils here—plus buffeting coastal winds—stress the vines into producing tiny, ridiculously concentrated clusters. In 2023, that fruit gave Phinney everything he needed for a truly exquisite Pinot. For a man with myriad achievements, this might be his most personal.