2015 Lucia Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Garys’ Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands.
The Pisoni family’s Lucia Vineyards latest set of wines are fantastic and textured wines with classic density, concentration and length, in particular the new 2015 Soberanes Chardonnay, which shows it’s Wente clone intensity and wonderful class with heavenly richness and Peter Michael like mouth feel, and the especially expressive Lucia Garys’ Vineyard 2015 Pinot Noir, which I will review here. Jeff Pisoni, winemaker of the Pisoni Estate wines and Lucia Vineyards, continues his hot streak with these 2015 wines, and while the vintage was short on crop size the wines offer heightened flavors and depth, these are wines that always seem to be a step higher with each year and showcase the Grand Cru class of the estate vines at the Pisoni Vineyard, Garys’ Vineyard and, the remarkable and youngest of the sites, Soberanes Vineyard. The slightly cool Garys’ Vineyard, that sits between Rosella’s and the higher Soberanes, gives Pisoni like dark flavors, but with good acidity and overall harmony, the sandy/loamy soils and cool breezing marine influenced climate of the Santa Lucia Highlands bench gives the Garys’ it’s unique terroir character. The 2015 Lucia Garys’ Pinot starts with lavish and opulent fruit, thick/lush mouth feel, exotic spices and briar along with lightly smoky sweet French oak framing this wonderful wine that has layers of rose petal, red currant, juicy plum and a core of decedent cherry and ripe black raspberry as well as hints of vanilla, blood orange liqueur, anise. This silken 2015 is a fuller bodied wine that the 2014, but it doesn’t go to far, it’s just closer in style to the famed Pisoni Estate, which most fans of this winery will find massively appealing and sexy, best get yours as quick as you can as the 2015’s will be extremely limited with the tiny crop and while it’s awesome right now, it has the potential to gain with age and should prove to be an exceptional vintage for the cellar!
($60 Est.) 94+ Points, grapelive
