2022 Soberanes Vineyard Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
Tasting Notes
“Very dark red hue. Beautiful scents of blackberry, sage, boysenberry, cherry jam, and cola make for an intense sensory experience out the gates. These qualities segue perfectly into the flavor profile and are met with voluptuous tannins and an expansive textural experience. Intricacy and persistence come to mind as this wine finishes on the palate. Enjoy now through 2033.”
~Bill Brosseau, Director of Winemaking
January 2024
“Lovely and lush aromas of black cherry and dark berry meet with mace, star anise and violet on the nose of this impressively dense bottling. There’s a toasty oak flavor on the palate, which wraps around the boysenberry, clove and nutmeg flavors.” Matt Kettmann, Wine Enthusiast, May 2024
“The 2022 Soberanes Vineyard is a spice cabinet in the glass, showing off a wild mix of everything from cardamom and cinnamon to star anise, lavender and caraway. Taut, dusty and a little nervous toward the finish, the Soberanes needs some time to relax. Cranberry and blood orange provide the bass notes, while rose and hibiscus flower tones add a flourish in the soprano register.” Billy Norris, Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, August 2024
Production Data
Growers: Pisoni & Franscioni Families
Winemaker: Bill Brosseau
Appellation: Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
Elevation/Exposure: 400 feet; East/Northeast
Soil: Rocky, sandy loam
Vineyard Age: 14 years
Viticulture Practice: Sustainable (SIP Certified)
Vinification: Destemmed, fermented in stainless steel
Cooperage & Ageing: 12 months in 100% French Oak, 62% new
Production: 8 barrels
Composition: 100% Pinot Noir (100% Pisoni Clone)
Acidity: 3.28 pH, 7.36 TA (g/L)
Alcohol: 14.3%
Harvest: September 15, 2022, hand harvested
Club Release: January 2024
Release Price: $79
Drink Now through 2033
Past Vintage Wine Scores
“The 2021 Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard is wonderfully complex and dynamic in the glass. Dried herbs, lavender, mocha, plum and macerated cherry fruit build nicely. Medium in body and enjoyably layered, with fine balance, the Soberanes has plenty to offer. Bright, vibrant acids linger effortlessly. The ethereal finish is just sublime.”
Antonio Galloni
Vinous
November 2023
“Bright and savory with redcurrants, sour cherries, red licorice and orange peel. Medium-bodied and sleek, but structured and compact. Fresh and crunchy red berries with hints of dried herb and citrus undertones. Drink or hold.”
James Suckling
November 2023
“Elegant layers of rose oil, strawberry schmear and dusty mints are attractive on the nose of this bottling. The palate tightens up around fresh flavors of strawberry, pomegranate and light herb.”
Matt Kettmann
Wine Enthusiast
May 2023
“The 2021 Pinot Noir “Soberanes Vineyard” bottling from Testarossa is also crafted from fairly young vines, as this vineyard was planted thirteen years ago. It comes in at 14.2 percent octane, was completely destemmed and raised in fifty-seven percent new oak during its fourteen months in cask. The wine is nicely red fruity in personality, offering up a complex nose of cherries, pomegranate, a touch of beetroot, graphite, dark soil tones, woodsmoke, espresso, peonies and a suave touch of new oak. On the palate the wine is precise, full-bodied, focused and complex, with excellent depth at the core, fine soil signature, ripe, seamless tannins and a long, seamlessly balanced, complex and very promising finish. This is one of the more structured single vineyard bottlings from Testarossa in 2021 and it will need its proper period of hibernation in the cellar before it starts to drink with generosity, but it is going to be a first class bottle of pinot once it is ready to drink. (Drink between 2033-2075)”
John Gilman
View From the Cellar
March/April 2023
“Earthy aromas of crushed slate and black tea leaves pair well with the dark-berry character on the nose of this bottling. The palate is structured architecturally, with ample density and tannins that are firm but relenting enough to present the mulberry, black plum, mushroom, coffee and loamy earth flavors. Drink now through 2034.”
Matt Kettmann
Wine Enthusiast
February/March 2022 Issue
“Shimmering ruby-red. Highly perfumed scents of fresh red and dark berries, allspice, vanilla and potpourri, along with a smoky mineral flourish that builds with aeration. Silky, expansive raspberry, cherry, boysenberry and floral pastille flavors show impressive depth as well as energy, and betray no rough edges. Finishes juicy, appealingly sweet and impressively long, with lingering red fruit and floral notes and smooth, harmonious tannins. 53% new French oak.”
Josh Raynolds
Antonio Galloni’s Vinous
“Although cast in the same, relatively firmly structured style that marks all of its Santa Lucia Highlands cellarmates in 2019, this is the richest and most outgoing of the bunch at present and immediately impresses with its precision and fruity depth. It is a concentrated, very well-filled effort with ripe, black cherries galore and shows terrific staying power to its exceptionally long finish, yet it is also a wine of incipient nuance and detail that will clearly show more in time. It is sure to tempt early drinking by way of its inviting richness, and, though we do confess that it is the one of the 2019 Testarossa contingent we would choose to drink a bit sooner than the others, there is no question in our minds but that it will grow and get even better with six to eight years of age.”
Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine
February 2022
“Warm, earthy nose, silky with bright, tangy cherry fruit; ripe with just a hint of mature sweetness, crisp and long.”
Anthony Dias Blue
September 2020
“Brilliant scarlet. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe red fruits, potpourri, spicecake and vanilla, along with a succulent herb topnote. Concentrated yet vibrant in style, showing sharp focus to the sweet raspberry, cherry cola, floral pastille and exotic spice flavors. Becomes nervier on the impressively long, subtly tannic finish, which hangs on with repeating spiciness. 57% new French oak.”
Josh Raynolds
Antonio Galloni’s Vinous
October 2020
“Deep crimson. Sexy, highly perfumed aromas of red berry preserves, potpourri and Asian spices, with smoky mineral and blood orange topnotes. Silky, penetrating raspberry, cherry cola and rose pastille flavors show very good depth and sharp focus, and tangy acidity adds a firm spine. Delivers a suave blend of power and delicacy on the strikingly long, floral-driven finish, which leaves hints of vanilla and star anise behind.”
Josh Raynolds
Antonio Galloni’s Vinous
November 2019
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“Smooth, juicy and tangy with bright red cherry and lively acidity.”
Anthony Dias Blue
The SOMM Journal
July 2019
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“A touch low in intensity upon first nosing with scattered suggestions of dried flowers and a distant herbal note or two sitting atop its relatively subdued, cherryish fruit, this wine quickly surprises by being richer and far deeper in flavor, and delivers a healthy, altogether unexpected measure of nicely ripened, indelibly varietal, red cherry fruit framed by attractive, mildly creamy oak. It is both agile and slightly supple in feel, and it offers a great deal to like now, but it is balanced to keep and we feel safe in predicting a little more complexity and finishing polish after a short wait.”
Connoisseurs’ Guide
November 2019
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“Vivid ruby. Intensely perfumed aromas of raspberry liqueur, spicecake and incense, backed by a hint of smoky minerals. Densely packed and alluringly sweet, displaying silky texture and a vibrant mineral core to the sappy red berry preserve, cherry cola and rose pastille flavors. Gains power with air while maintaining vibrancy. Gentle tannins build slowly on an impressively persistent, floral-driven finish.”
Josh Raynolds
Antonio Galloni’s Vinous
“From the vineyard planted by the Pisoni and Franscioni families, this wine delivers bright raspberry and strawberry aromas with sweet star anise spice. The medium-bodied palate is lively and boisterous, with ripe cranberry, tangy red plum skin and sour cherry flavors, accented with a helping of dried herbs.”
Wine Enthusiast
“Stark minerality, from hot gravel to chipped slate, meets with garrigue elements of lavender and thyme on the nose of this strong bottling that gains a savory quality thanks to roasted-pork aromas. The requisite fruit arrives on the sip, where smashed cranberry meets with pepper spice and dried herbs. The structure is grippy and affords great length in the finish.”
Wine Enthusiast
“This wine’s distinct and intriguing nose pairs cola and cinnamon with cranberry, chopped chaparral scrub and wildfire smoke. That scrubby character of green sage and mugwort extends to the palate, spicing up the beet juice, ripe raspberries and a pencil-lead backbone.This wine’s distinct and intriguing nose pairs cola and cinnamon with cranberry, chopped chaparral scrub and wildfire smoke. That scrubby character of green sage and mugwort extends to the palate, spicing up the beet juice, ripe raspberries and a pencil-lead backbone.”
Wine Enthusiast
“Medium-deep ruby color; rich, deep, dark cherry aromas with herbs and anise notes; deep, rich cherry flavors with toasty oak and herbal notes; lush texture; good structure and balance; long finish. Lush, rich Pinot with flavors that go on forever.”
Pinot Report
“Here’s one of Testarossa’s more forward Pinots from the 2011 vintage, but that appeal is deceptive. It’s rich and ripe in raspberry, strawberry and cola flavors, with an apparent sweetness that belies the dry finish. The acidity is adequate, giving it a tart softness. Yet the parts have not come together. Give it until 2017 and see what happens.”
Wine Enthusiast
The Soberanes Vineyard
The Soberanes Vineyard is the fifth and newest vineyard in the Pisoni and Franscioni family partnership. It is located in the heart of the Santa Lucia Highlands and builds upon a tradition of high quality hand-winegrowing. Gary Pisoni says the Soberanes Vineyard is their best property to date and they are expecting great vintages from it in the future because they have been able to apply all of their experience in this new location. There are 27 acres of the Pisoni clone Pinot Noir planted and 8 acres of Chardonnay. The property is adjacent to Garys’ Vineyard with an east/northeast orientation at 400 feet in elevation. The soil is rocky, sandy loam. The vineyard was originally planted in 2008.