Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County, 2010
Pinot Noir is a demanding grape - each vintage deeply affected by changes in climate and soil composition. Fortunately for us, Santa Barbara County is both well suited to this noble grape and remarkably temperate, allowing us to produce award-winning wine year after year.

The Rusack SBC Pinot Noir is a favorite among restaurateurs. This wine is packed with bright spicy flavors of strawberries, coffee, and caramel. This makes for a very approachable food friendly wine and a local favorite.

The grapes for this Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir hail from four vineyards, all influenced by the cooling fog of the nearby Pacific and perfectly suited for growing Pinot Noir. Upon delivery to the winery early in the morning, the grapes were de-stemmed and then placed into small 1-ton bins, where they were punched down by hand 2-3 times each day. The resulting wine was then placed into French oak barrels, of which 35% were new, and aged for 10 months. The Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir was bottled unfiltered, given a few months of bottle aging to allow the wine to integrate and released in the following spring. 940 cases were produced.

You can order this wine directly from the winery, please click here to go to our secure online store.

Optimal Storage Conditions:
Constant temperature, 55-58°F, darkness.

Aging Potential:
To enjoy young fruit aromas, consume within 1-2 years of bottling date. For extended aging under ideal conditions, consume within 2 - 5 years of bottling date.

Vineyards:
37% Sebastiano, 24% Solomon Hills, 23% Rio Vista, 16% Fiddlestix

Bottle analysis:
Alcohol: 14.3%, pH: 3.58, TA: 0.653 g/100ml

Please click here for a printable version of these notes.