Taste of Santa Rita Hills: Top Scoring Wines

Let’s talk wine scores.

If you have been to our tasting room, you probably have noticed that we do not talk about wine scores. That doesn’t mean that we don’t pay attention to wine scores and read reviews, but we trust our own palates. When it comes to wines from Sta. Rita Hills, we have the experience to understand if a wine offers what we expect in a wine from the area, and to judge as to whether or not the wine is priced appropriately for its quality and complexity. So we don’t feel the need to promote or choose wines based on scores.

We have been asked in the past, why not discuss a wine that has a stellar score? We could, but we want our customers to trust our palates and their own. If you like a wine, it doesn’t matter whether the wine received a 80 or 100 points. In addition, there are many wines that do not get sent out for review so will never receive a score.

There are many of you that live far away and cannot be here to try the wines yourselves, or perhaps do not know our expertise well. In that case, scores might be helpful for you to have a third party recommendation about some of the wines we carry. In addition there are many of you that have cellars and like to collect top-scoring wines. We understand that.

So here you go…a short list of some of the top-scoring wines we are currently carrying.

Cheers,
Jeni and Antonio

Taste of Santa Rita Hills

98 Points:

Paul Lato Pinot Noir “Lancelot”, Pisoni Vineyard, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)

97 Points:

The Hilt Pinot Noir “Old Guard” 2017 (Antonio Galloni)
Paul Lato Syrah “Cinematique”, Larner Vineyard, 2017 (Jeb Dunnuck)
Paul Lato Syrah/Grenache “Space Cadet” 2018 (Wine Advocate)
Paul Lato Pinot Noir “C’est la Vie”, Drum Canyon Vineyard, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)
Paul Lato Pinot Noir “Atticus”, Sebastiano Vineyard, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)
Paul Lato Pinot Noir “Victor Francis”, Peake Ranch, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)

96 Points:

The Hilt Pinot Noir “Vanguard” 2017 (Jeb Dunnuck)
Paul Lato Chardonnay “Ma Jolie”, Peake Ranch, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)

95+ Points:

Paul Lato Pinot Noir “Seabiscuit”, Zotovich Vineyard, 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)

94 Points:

Walt Pinot Noir, Clos Pepe Vineyard, 2017 (Wine Enthusiast)
Spear Pinot Noir 2018 (Jeb Dunnuck)
Samuel Smith Chardonnay, Spear Vineyard, 2018 (Wine Enthusiast)

93 Points:

Bonaccorsi Pinot Noir, Sebastiano Vineyard, 2013 (93 Wine Advocate)
Ryan Cochrane Pinot Noir, Fiddlestix Vineyard, 2017 (Wine Enthusiast)

92 Points:

Walt Pinot Noir, Clos Pepe Vineyard, 2018 (Wine Spectator)
Spear Chardonnay, Gnesa Vineyard, 2017 (Wine Advocate)
Ground Truth Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard, 2016 (Wine Enthusiast)

Note: Some wines are extremely limited.