John Gilman is one of the world’s most respected independent wine critics. He has an authoritative archive of thousands of reviews in his View From the Cellar publication, and is the preferred voice for many serious wine consumers and producers alike. With a penchant for aged wines, we are proud to have received a wholehearted endorsement to drink our current release wines over the next several decades.
93+ points
2021 Soberanes Vineyard Chardonnay
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
“Soberanes Vineyard was fairly recently-planted, as these Wente Clones are twelve years of age, but it is beautifully situated, lying next to Gary’s Vineyard that Adam Lee at Clarice Wine Company sources for one of his top bottlings of pinot noir. The 2021 Soberanes Vineyard Chardonnay from Testarossa was aged for twenty months in just over forty percent new oak and comes in at a svelte 14.2 percent alcohol. The wine’s aromatic constellation is refined and complex, offering up scents of fresh pineapple, pear, orange zest, a hint of butterscotch, beautiful soil tones, lemon blossoms and a classy framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary, with a superb core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, bright acids and lovely balance on the long, focused and promising finish. This lovely wine deserves three to five years in the cellar to allow its secondary layers of complexity to start to properly emerge. It will be an excellent wine once it has blossomed, but drinking it now (albeit quite enjoyable) is infanticide. (Drink between 2026-2040).” John Gilman, A View From the Cellar
93 points
2021 Tondré Grapefield Chardonnay
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
“Tondré Grapefield vineyard lies just south of Gary’s Vineyard and Soberanes Vineyard, with the chardonnay vines here now fourteen years of age. The clones are all Dijon and the soils are gravelly loam. The wine is entirely barrel-fermented (like all of these Testarossa chardonnays) and aged in forty percent new oak for just under a year prior to bottling. The 2021 version comes in at 14.3 percent alcohol and offers up a complex bouquet of apple, nectarine, salty soil tones, orange peel, a touch of bergamot, spring flowers and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, focused and more open in personality than the Soberanes Vineyard 2021, with superb depth at the core, lovely soil inflection, zesty acids and fine balance and grip on the long and complex finish. This is excellent chardonnay. (Drink between 2023-2038).” John Gilman, A View From the Cellar
93+ points
2021 Rosella’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
“I only know Rosella’s Vineyard from the excellent pinot produced from this source by Adam Lee under his Clarice Wines label, so I was very excited to see that Testarossa is also crafting a bottling from this fine pinot noir vineyard. The 2021 from Testarossa was made from twenty-five year-old vines, completely destemmed and raised in fifty percent new oak for eleven months prior to bottling. The bouquet is deep, precise and complex, wafting from the glass in a blend of sweet dark berries, black cherries, raw cocoa, a fine base of dark soil tones, woodsmoke, roses and a quite refined framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and nicely sappy at the core, with an excellent foundation of soil tones, fine-grained tannins, lovely focus and balance and a long, suave and complex finish. This is already quite seamless and is certainly pretty easy to drink already, but it is still a primary wine and deserves several years in the cellar to let its secondary and tertiary layers of complexity emerge. Most impressive juice. (Drink between 2032-2075).” John Gilman, A View From The Cellar
93+ points
2021 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir
Sta. Rita Hills AVA
“The 2021 Pinot Noir “Sanford & Benedict Vineyard” bottling from Testarossa is also made from fairly young vines, as they are only thirteen years of age in this section of the vineyard, but the inimitable terroir of Sanford & Benedict is readily apparent in this excellent wine. The nose is more red fruity than most of these single vineyard cuvées, offering up a very refined blend of cherries, red plums, pomegranate, fresh herb tones, coffee bean, a lovely base of soil and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and quite elegant in profile, with a fine core of fruit, excellent soil signature, ripe tannins and a long, vibrant and nascently complex finish. This was raised in fifty-four percent new oak, but is still in the process of absorbing its new wood a bit and deserves some time unbothered in a cool corner of the cellar to blossom properly. It is going to be an outstanding wine in due course. (Drink between 2033-2075).” John Gilman, A View From The Cellar
93 points
2021 Soeranes Vineyard Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
“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, A View From The Cellar
93 points
2021 Tondré Grapefield Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
“Testarossa’s 2021 Tondré Grapefield bottling of Pinot Noir comes in at 14.2 percent octane and was raised in seventy percent new French oak in this vintage. The wine is quite black fruity on the nose, offering up a deep and polished blend of sweet dark berries, black cherries, cola, a lovely base of dark soil tones, a touch of fresh nutmeg, black tea and a suave base of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and nascently complex, with a lovely core of ripe fruit, fine-grained tannins, lovely balance and a long, poised and promising finish. This is another excellent bottle of pinot noir in the making, but it will need some bottle age to start hitting on all cylinders. (Drink between 2033-2075).” John Gilman, A View From The Cellar
92+ points
2021 Rancho La Viña Vineyard Pinot Noir
Sta. Rita Hills AVA
“The Rancho La Viña Vineyard bottling from Bill Brosseau hails from fairly young vines, at fifteen years of age, but the wine is raised in just a smidgeon over fifty percent new oak for only eleven months, which treats these younger vines with a gentle hand in the cellar. The wine was completely destemmed and comes in at a slightly riper 14.4 percent octane in 2021. It delivers a lovely, black fruity nose of black cherries, black plums, coffee bean, dark soil tones, bonfire, a touch of herb and a discreet foundation of new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied and nicely transparent in personality, with a good core, fine soil undertow, buried tannins and a long, complex and very nicely balanced finish. There is not quite the same mid-palate amplitude here as is found in the excellent Graham Family Vineyard cuvée, but this is still a very good bottle in the making. (Drink between 2030-2065).” John Gilman, A View From The Cellar
92 points
2021 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Sta. Rita Hills AVA
“The 2021 Santa Rita Hills bottling of pinot noir comes in at the same 14.1 percent octane as the Santa Lucia Highlands cuvée, but the wine was given a bit more new oak during its elevage, as it was raised in sixty percent new casks in this vintage. The wine is deeper and more black fruity in personality, offering up a bouquet of dark berries, black cherries, woodsmoke, raw cocoa, dark soil tones, a hint of violet and a well done framing of cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and quite precise, with an excellent core of black fruit, good mineral undertow, ripe tannins and fine focus on the long, very well balanced and nascently complex finish. This is more structured than the Santa Lucia Highlands bottling this year and will demand some cellaring before it really starts to drink with generosity, but it is going to be a very fine bottle once it starts to blossom. (Drink between 2028-2065).” John Gilman, A View From The Cellar
