Longoria 2005 Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills

A stunning single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the famous Pinot country of Santa Rita Hills where Richard Longoria has been handcrafting superb wines since 1982. Only 205 cases produced!

This year's Longoria 2005 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir was exclusively produced from the Dijon 115 Pinot Noir clone from both the Fe Ciega Vineyard and Foley's Rancho Santa Rosa Vineyard. This relatively new clone of Pinot Noir has the reputation for producing the best balanced wines among the several Dijon clones that have been widely planted in recent years.

The wine displays a medium ruby color. Up front in the nose is a perfume-like character of spices such as bay leaf, white pepper and celery seed, that lead to the fruit aromas of dark cherries. On the palate, the wine has round, almost sweet flavors of cherries and spices. The texture, very soft for such a young wine, as well as a long and silky finish, makes it very drinkable now. However, it will become even smoother with another two to three years of bottle aging.