2021 Corral Wines, Pinot Noir, Reserve Clone 115-777, Canyon Springs Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands.
A deep garnet and ruby color and a dark floral, spicy and berry nose greets you in this impactful Pinot Noir by Corral Wines with a rich and firmly structural medium bodied palate that shows off classic Santa Lucia Highlands depth of fruit and length. There’s loads of black cherry, bramble berry, plum and blood orange fruits and while holding some grip, there’s a long silky mouth feel that comes through with air, along with background elements that include well judged toasty French oak, tea spices, mineral tones, rose petals, briar spice and cola bean. This is going to be a huge fan favorite with Corral’s wine club and mailing list, it was a small lot wine, so it won’t be easy to get otherwise, but I would ask the winery directly about getting some. Hand made and fermented in open top fermenter bins and aged in a mix of used and new French barriques, this Reserve saw a combination of 115 and 777 clones, making it a bigger and more muscular style of Pinot Noir that is just beginning its evolution, drink over the next 3 to 5 years.
The Corral Wine, as I’ve mentioned in prior reviews. label is a an artisan winery started by Larry Bell of Bell Family Vineyards and based in Monterey County and primarily known for their estate Pinot Noir, which began in 2017, in their barn in Corral de Tierra, in the hills between Carmel Valley and Salinas. That year Corral barreled the first batch of estate Pinot Noir, and while in the same barn, they’ve added an array wines made with even more varietals, all sourced from, as Bell notes, some of the best grapes on the Central Coast including in the Santa Lucia Highlands and west side Paso Robles, as seen here with this unique Tres Amigos red wine. As mentioned before in my prior reviews, Corral’s winemaker Adrien Valenzuela, a Salinas and Monterey County native, is one of a talented youthful new set of home grown local winemakers in the region. The lineup at Corral is well worth checking out, from their Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Rosé to their set of Pinots, as well as deeply colored and full bodied Petite Sirah and Cabernet bottlings. Corral just moved into a new and beautiful tasting room location in the Carmel Valley Village and have just released a new set of exciting wines, so it is a great time to discover this small label, with this Reserve being a great way to start!
($N/A) 94 Points, grapelive