2014 Foxen Winery Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills

Concentrated Pinot Noir from the extremes of a terroir

The “Foxen boys” — Dick Doré and Bill Wathen — are hardly “boys,” working their wonders in Santa Barbara vineyards for some 60 years between them. Their experience shines through in this 2014 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir,  which Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate calls “a smoking value that has both fruit and complexity.” These “boys” are no strangers to critical acclaim, with the Advocate calling the Foxen wines “impeccably made” and praising them for their “elegance and nuance,” and dozens of their wines scored in the 90s from major publications. With this 2014 Sta. Rita Hills earning 91 points from both the Advocate and Wine Enthusiast, Doré and Wathen have done it again with this lively and energetic Central Coast Pinot Noir offered at just $29.99.

Foxen’s Dick Doré and Bill Wathen have roots in California’s Central Coast that stretch back into the early part of the 19th century, when Doré’s great-great grandfather purchased his family’s Rancho Tinaquaic property. That same vineyard is where, in 1989, Wathen and Doré’s nighttime cane-collecting entered local lore as “Volar de Noche” or “fly by night.” Bill Wathen honed his winemaking and vineyard skills in the 1970s from early Central Coast legend Dick Graff, helping him produce some of the legendary late-1970s vintages of Chalone Pinot Noir.  

The “Foxen boys” have long leveraged their deep relationships and expertise in Santa Barbara to access exceptional fruit sources, producing wines from superstar vineyards like Sea Smoke, Sebastiano, Sanford & Benedict, and Bien Nacido. Now in the fourth decades of their careers, they’ve produced an exceptional Sta. Rita Hills cuvee from the literal and figurative frontier of California’s Pinot Noir production.

In this westernmost outpost of Santa Barbara, shrouded in the Pacific fog, Sta. Rita Hills vineyards yield concentrated, chiseled wines, counterbalanced against an extreme red-fruited, perfumed grace. Nowhere else in Santa Barbara boasts this kind of exceptionally long hang-time, thanks to the cool marine influence, and dramatic diurnal temperature shifts, thanks to those Pacific breezes. Here, the Foxen boys get superlative aromatic concentration and structure with balanced, moderate alcohols — the dream for any Pinot Noir producer.

The 2014 growing season, the third-straight drought year in California, ushered in steady Pacific breezes that helped Pinot grapes ripen evenly, yielding rich and complex character, with bracing acidity. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Wine Enthusiast came to rare agreement that the Foxen 2014 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir dazzled to the tune of 91 points. Jeb Dunnuck says the ‘14s in Santa Barbara are “accessible and offer loads of pleasure.” One sip of this Pinot Noir and you’ll agree.

Jonathan Cristaldi

Editor-in-Chief, Wine Access

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.40%
• Enjoy right away
• Drink Up
• % Pinot Noir
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork