Miura Vineyards Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2017

This is their entry level Pinot Noir. A wine that they made because a number of high end restaurants wanted to pour a Miura Pinot Noir by the glass but found that their single vineyard offerings were too expensive to do so. They made this wine to be more approachable in its youth, but one that retains the complexity and elegance associated with all Miura Pinot Noirs and yet priced so it can be consumed on an everyday basis.

Miura started out one evening in late 1994. A group friends, most of them from The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, chefs Gary Danko, Laurence Jossel (Nopa) and Gerald Hirigoyen (Piperade), as well Nick Peyton (Cyrus) amongst others, had gathered for drinks after work at Master Sommelier Emmanuel Kemiji’s apartment when one the chefs suggested that it would be a great opportunity to experience a harvest first hand. Kemiji was put in charge of the project and it became a new challenge for him. He eventually left The Ritz-Carlton in the summer of 1999 to dedicate himself solely to Miura Vineyards.