2021 Morgan Winery, Pinot Noir “Clone P5” Double L Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands.
The stunningly rich and concentrated rare “Clone P5” Pinot Noir by Morgan, made from their estate Pommard selections, is deep and pure Santa Lucia Highlands in style and should age nicely with beautiful structure and a seductive palate of dark fruits. Dan Lee’s famous Morgan Winery has seen a huge revival and the 2021 and 2022 wines have really excelled in all directions and building on that success has seen some changes in the cellar and I look forward to seeing what the future holds here and I am very excited about the upcoming 2023s. This 2021 Pommard Clone Pinot really has a serious palate impact with black cherry, plum, black fig and bramble berry fruits, along with silky tannins, a nice framing of toasty French oak, along with hints of briar, rose petals, mocha, sweet tea spices and lingering vanilla. The winemaking followed the style of of Morgan’s 2018 and 2019 offerings with mostly de-stemmed grapes and full cool extraction and about a year in high end medium plus French oak, which matches up well with the concentration and depth of the small yielding organic grapes. I enjoyed this luxurious and dark garnet Pinot with a full Friendsgiving (Thanksgiving) meal and it impressed with each and every dish and I highly recommend it with cuisine to allow the wine to show off its best side.
The prime Double L Estate Vineyard, which is planted to many clones, including Heritage and Dijon clones, along with some unique Burgundy selections, is one of the most intriguing sites in the region, has, as Lee explains been conscientiously farmed since the original plantings were out in back in 1997, adding that today the Double L Estate Vineyard is the only certified organic vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The estate vines are located at the colder northern end of the AVA, on sandy loamy soils, the vineyard’s north-south row orientation provides optimal wind and sun exposure and sees an interesting selection of varietals and the mentioned clonal material with some proprietary Burgundy clone Pinot selections, some beautiful Chardonnay, with their clone 96 being a personal favorite, and some seriously good Riesling, which is done in dry and off-dry styles and rivals the best in the state. Being a local to the Monterey region and very proud of our local history, it’s great to see Morgan reach new levels of quality and their latest releases are thrilling wines and I’m very excited to see their soon to be bottled 2023 Rieslings, Albariño and Rosé, which I hear are going to be some of the best yet, and later in the year the Chards and Pinots, again which look to be outstanding! The 2024 harvest is all wrapped up and I hear the highland fruit was absolutely gorgeous, so there’s a lot to be excited about at Morgan and I look forward to seeing the results!
($75 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive