2022 Whitcraft Winery, Pinot Noir, Radian Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills.
One of California’s top wineries for small hand crafted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines, Whitcraft, made an outstanding 2022 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir from the ultra extreme cool Western end of the region at the Radian Vineyard, which shows in the intensity and structure here. The Radian Vneyard reaches nearly 700 feet up and the vines are more exposed to the cold wind off the Pacific, giving the wines a Burgundian, almost Côte de Nuits like character and this Whitcraft version is not unlike Grand Crus, Clos St.-Denis and or Clos de la Roche, with power and grace in the glass with a very dark ruby hue in the glass and exceptional depth on the mineral medium bodied palate. This absolutely brilliant Whitcraft Radian delivers a heady perfume of rose petals and violets along with an exciting and sultry earthiness, there’s black cherry, raspberry and currant fruits, along with a touch of mixed spices, wild herbs, orange tea and subtle oak influence. The Whitcraft Winery founded back in 1985 by Chris Whitcraft, who had hosted a local wine radio program in Santa Barbara County for more than a decade helping him get to know the famous local and California winemakers of the time. It is noted, by the winery, that Whitcraft learned his craft from some of the best winemakers in California, including legends like Joe Heitz (Heitz Cellars), Dick Graff (Founder of Chalone Winery and its AVA), and Burt Williams (Williams Selyem & Morning Dew Ranch) to name a few. Sadly and too young Chris passed away in 2014, but his son Drake, a talent in his own right, continues to carry on and is making seriously good and age worthy wines, with a minimalistic and more natural approach, such as this one.
Winemaker Drake Whitcraft says the Radian, owned by the Hilt Estate, the Pinot and Chard label of Jonata, site is very special with steep, southwest and southeast facing hillsides that are loaded with dark rich clay and golf ball sized pieces of chert, making a unique terroir into itself and as I have seen capable of producing world class Pinot Noir. Whitcraft continues, that every day here at Radian, it is windy and cool, that helps make for a long growing season and incredible depth in the wines, as this 2022 shows. Drake says his Radian pours a dense dark red in the glass, showing that the berries are small and concentrated, and these vines are not over watered, again adding to the intensity. The owners of Radian explain that the poor, non fertile soils force the vines to send their roots deep in search of nutrients, resulting in better and more complex fruit and the wines certainly deliver that in spades. Going on, they’d that the plentiful sunlight and maritime climate here in the west side of the Sta. Rita Hills, with its strong winds and cool days and nights, means that grapes ripen slowly while retaining their acidity, which results in moderate alcohols, and this vintage of Whitcraft’s Radian came in at 13.9%. Radian is quite large, at almost 95 acres, but still extremely high quality and has an excellent reputation with winemakers, like Drake Whitcraft, who gets a small tonnage to make his expression. The vineyard, I learned, has unique outcroppings of diatomaceous earth and rocky soils that dominate Radian topography and help define the personality of grapes. The rocky soils at the top of Radian offer good drainage and heat retention, that is critical to getting ripe fruit at these high altitudes and conditions, that limit yields, with that cold, whipping wind, all leading to some very special wines like this one.
($90 Est.) 96 Points, grapelive