The Withers 2016 English Hill Pinot Noir

The Withers aim is to produce elegant, nuanced, balanced, food friendly expressions of cool climate vineyard sites that don’t sacrifice flavor, complexity or intensity. For those wondering about the winery name, the withers is in many species the tallest point of the body. For horses, it is the place from which height is measured. The winery is named in the spirit of striving for heights in every aspect of their operation.

Alcohol: 13%

93 POINTS - "David Low makes this wine from a vineyard in Occidental, 8.5 acres of Goldridge and sandy loam soils. Rising to 652 feet, it’s an exposed, windy site producing a lean and lithe pinot noir with sour cherry flavors, rocky tannins and lasting scents of mint and pressed roses. This glistens like salt spray on sandstone, a Pacific wine to decant for meaty roast fish." - Wine & Spirits

91 POINTS - "Crushed rose petal and lavender open the aromatic nose of this lovely wine, which is light bodied and delicately crafted. The midpalate evolves quietly to reveal earthy forest, cardamom and a tang of blood orange." - Wine Enthusiast

This ethereal Pinot enters with lightness and expands rapidly on the palate, showing notes of coastal forest floor, baking spice, earth, and dried tea and herbs. The small berries contribute a higher skin to pulp ratio, which gives this lovely wine a deceiving power.