2015 Ojai Vineyard Pinot Noir Puerta del Mar Santa Barbara County

As one of the winery’s more restrained and elegant bottlings, 2015 Puerta del Mar Pinot Noir showed all the earthiness and minerality of its Old World peers, and had an unmistakable generosity about its California character that kept us coming back, sip after sip.

After all, when considering the cornucopia of roasts, stews, and casseroles that adorn the holiday table, we tend to crave the bounty of high-toned pomegranate, dried cherry and cranberry that this wine has in spades (especially after four years developing in the bottle). Beautifully lifted and savory, with cardamom spice, gentle forest floor, and an addictive sea-spray minerality on the finish, the Puerta del Mar blew the competition out of the water that afternoon. 

The Ojai Vineyard is always a beacon for classic, well-balanced wines (and “always a joy to drink” according to Wine Advocate), and this single-vineyard Pinot benefits from a little extra bottle age, which is why it’s positively singing right now.

We last visited The Ojai Vineyard in early 2018, right after the town of Ojai had narrowly avoided being consumed by Santa Barbara wildfires. We met with owner Adam Tolmach in one of his three makeshift temperature-controlled barns in the backwoods just outside of the town. The fires so narrowly missed his vineyards that he said he felt like a lottery winner just being able to stand among his unscathed vines and pour wine for us. 

That day, we were the lucky ones, not only because we got to taste with Adam on his pristine property, but because it was our first introduction to this library vintage Pinot—after The Ojai Vineyard came so close to having no library stock at all!

As one of the pioneers of the Santa Barbara County wine scene, Adam’s humility belies his résumé. He founded the legendary Au Bon Climat with Jim Clendenen in the early ‘80s, before he started experimenting with grapes on the property he inherited from his grandfather. He had a crazy hunch that cooler climates produced better balanced, more expressive wines, and decided he’d make that his signature style. 

By paying growers by the acre, Adam ensures total control over farming and yields (he has never made more than 6,000 cases), and his focus remains on higher elevation sites. Perhaps that’s why his wines have shot their way to the forefront of the growing movement of more balanced Californian Pinot Noirs, which are prized for elegance over power.

For Burgundy loyalists who believe that California Pinot Noir never quite measures up to “the real thing,” 2015 Puerta Del Mar is a compelling (and perfectly cellared) rebuttal.

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

• ABV 12.50%
• 30 mins
• Drink Up
• % Pinot Noir
• Serving temperature – 55°
• Cork