Talbott Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard 2021

This structured and 'crystalline' red wine originates from the United States, within the cool-climate Santa Lucia Highlands A.V.A. of Monterey County, California. Produced by Talbott Vineyards; a benchmark producer celebrating over three decades of cool-climate Burgundian varieties, this bottling highlights one of California's most revered estate sites: the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. Planted in 1972 on elevated benchlands, the vines are rooted in deep, gravelly loam, granite-rich soils, and sandy alluvial subsoils. Positioned just miles from Monterey Bay, the vineyard experiences extreme maritime influences, where morning fog and cold afternoon winds sweep down from the Pacific Ocean. This intense marine exposure creates a lengthened growing season, allowing Pinot Noir to develop profound fruit concentration and complex skin phenolics while locking in a crisp, mouthwatering natural acidity.

Wine Description

Talbott Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir presents a luminous, deep ruby-garnet color in the glass with vivid magenta reflections along the rim. Its sensory profile is exceptionally fresh, high-toned, and complex, delivering a masterfully focused, expressive, and layered portrayal of Santa Lucia Highlands terroir. The bouquet opens with an inviting display of dark black cherries, wild forest strawberries, and ripe red plums, seamlessly integrated with delicate underlays of clove, cinnamon spice, dried rose petals, vanilla pod, damp forest floor, and a subtle line of crushed granite minerality. On the palate, the wine is medium-to-full-bodied, sleek, and precisely focused, showcasing a succulent, mouth-coating core of stone fruit reduction, blood orange peel, and dark cocoa. It is characterized by its outstanding inner energy and an incisive, mouthwatering backbone of natural acidity that cuts cleanly through the rich mid-palate fruit density. The mouthfeel is broad, velvety, and athletic, driven by supple, fine-grained, and chalky tannins that glide into an extraordinarily long, dry, and savory finish accented by persistent notes of dark berry skin, toasted cedar, and baking spice.