Paul Lato Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016

Earth and fruit are both complexly expressed in this nearly-opaque, massive-yet-controlled Pinot from the always impressive Pisoni Vineyard. A melange of dried red flower and black fruits explode on the nose, and the palate bristles with textural notes of potpourri, dark cherry, and watermelon seed. A powerful wine from a powerful site. Lancelot famously became a “Sir” in the course of his adventures, and this very well may be our knighted vintage.

Gary Pisoni is a legend. Stories of his life could easily be featured in John Steinbeck’s novels or made into an epic Hollywood movie. Old-fashioned deals through handshakes and eye-to-eye contact with Gary, his wife Margarette, and his sons, Mark, the vineyard manager, and Jeff, the winemaker for Pisoni, are quintessential of the family’s style of business. This privileged, sun and windswept location has a most unique vibration that brings one back to the pioneering years of the California West. The combination between the site, the French clone brought in a suitcase from a famous “Grand Cru” vineyard in Burgundy gives the wine a full-bodied, exuberant and complex style with rich dark berry aromas.