2013 Longoria Wines Pinot Noir Collection

A 6-Pack Exclusive from the Master of Santa Barbara Pinot Noir

Antonio Galloni likes to call Santa Barbara “one of California’s best-kept secrets.” It’s no secret which Pinot Noir-makers blazed the trail there, with Jim Clendenen, Richard Sanford, and Michael Benedict all churning out acclaimed wines and establishing Santa Barbara’s “rich legacy of historic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sites.” But standing tall among his Pinot Noir peers is Rick Longoria.

Longoria is a master builder, whose vigilance in monitoring sugar levels and keeping ahead of hot spells yields scintillating wines that balance a bright acid architecture with incredible depth and concentration of flavors. He fully destems his fruit, and ages in mostly used oak, producing chiseled Pinots that are more Côte de Nuits in style and structure.

Galloni points to the Grand Crus of Sta. Rita Hills — the likes of Sanford & Benedict, La Encantada and Fiddlestix — as examples of sites that yield “deeply intriguing Pinot Noir.” In Santa Maria Valley to the north, it’s Clendenen’s Au Bon Climat, Solomon Hills, Sierra Madre, and Foxen’s Ernesto Wickenden, along with Bien Nacido, all of which have produced masterful Pinot Noirs “of tension and crystalline purity.”

That purity is on display in the 2013 Longoria Wines Pinot Noir from Bien Nacido Vineyard’s “cherished block,” which earned 94 points from Wine Enthusiast. That “N Block” is planted to the Martini heritage clone, and the resulting wine reveals “concentrated” red berry flavors balanced by “tongue-tingling acidity” and a savory finish. Longoria told us he harvested on September 9th at 23.6 Brix, which “perfectly hit my target, even though that was historically about 10 days early for Bien Nacido.”

The 2013 Longoria Wines Pinot Noir from La Encantada vineyard garnered 93 points from Galloni. Visible from Fe Ciega’s south-facing slopes, La Encantada’s north-facing vines are perfectly positioned in the cool-climate corridor of Sta. Rita Hills, where vine-row orientation drastically impacts sun exposure, and grapes take longer to ripen. The call to harvest came on September 30th, fully three weeks after picking at Bien Nacido, when Brix levels finally reached 23.5 — and alcohol was perfectly in check at 14.1%. Galloni praises its “bright red stone fruits, game, rose petal and savory notes,” citing “no shortage of personality” for a wine that “will delight readers for the better part of the next decade.”

A 94-point Longoria Pinot Noir off Bien Nacido. A 93-point Longoria Pinot Noir from La Encantada. Available only as a 6-pack — three bottles of each. $300 from the tasting room and to Rick’s mailing list customers (where most of this goes). $225 on this rare WineAccess exclusive.