2016 Black Kite Sierra Mar Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

14.5% alc., pH 3.55, TA 0.60, 200 cases, $45. Pisoni “clone.” Aged 11 months in French oak barrels, 50% new. · Moderate garnet color in the glass. The oak dominates the aromatic profile with scents of spice, vanilla and ash, but there is enough blackberry fruit aroma to satisfy. A wine for fruit hedonists with a boisterous core of blackberry and cassis flavors underlain with toasty oak. Suave in texture with very modest tannins, finishing long but with slight astringency. When tasted two days later from a previously opened and re-corked bottle, there was more integration of oak but the noticeable tannins persisted on the finish. Score: 90. Reviewed August 24, 2018

Winery: Black Kite Cellars
From article: Recently Tasted California Pinot Noir