Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Rancho La Viña Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills 2022

It's an elegant, layered, incredibly well-made Pinot Noir” writes Jeb Dunnuck in his 95 point review of this sultry, satiny beauty. It comes from one of the top producers on the Central Coast, a place we’re always thrilled to receive a shipment from: the one and only Alma Rosa! 

If you snapped up Alma Rosa’s (now sold out on our site) La Encantada Pinot, you know how great their wines are. Whereas La Encantada was quite herbaceous, this 2022 Rancho La Viña Vineyard is all about deep, rich fruit. Yes, it also has that Sta. Rita Hills bright-red note we’re obsessed with, and the mouthwatering saline element. But it feels like Sta. Rita and Russian River had a baby – there’s cherry cola, chewy black grapes, and violets, oh my! We love the way the 40% new French oak appears as a faint note of redwood bark. And despite its fruity power, this Pinot has a satiny, delicate, almost ethereal slip in the mouth. The alcohol is so nicely integrated it’s almost imperceptible. 10% whole-cluster fermentation adds a welcome twiggy layer. If you are sensing that this is an extremely balanced and well-rounded wine, you are spot-on! Who wouldn’t love it? And our price is delicious, too: a 95 pointer at an incredible price on 2+ bottles. 

La Viña is in the southern corridor of windy Sta. Rita Hills. The Alma Rosa winemaking team thinks the fruit is special enough to buy it, even though they themselves own some of the most pioneering and prized vineyards in Santa Barbara County. La Viña has been in the Cooper family’s hands for over 150 years. They also grow organic heirloom tomatoes, squash, green beans, and lots of walnuts – considered to be some of the sweetest and best-tasting in California. 

Special ground, to be sure, and superbly handled by Alma Rosa’s young winemaker Samra Morris, who is originally from Bosnia. You can feel the joy in her work here. She has been blessed with top-tier guidance: three harvests under the legendary Thomas Rivers Brown, and now ongoing mentorship with acclaimed consulting winemaker Tony Biagi, a Vinous “Winemaker of the Year” who also works for the illustrious Hourglass and To-Kalon.