I don’t drink a lot of luxury Pinots. Anyone who has ever drank wine with me knows I steer clear of the *reserve* bottlings–often skipping them completely in a tasting. I’ve found–as a lot of you understand–the sumptuous reserve bottles often carry with them factors I find demeaning to the grape’s expression. I find the *plain* far more to my liking, with their typically lower alcohol, extraction and oak levels. This is not a popular opinion with the vast majority of wine-drinkers, but the more you delve into the variety, the more you like them RAW. This wine–a flagship bottling–strikes an easy balance between both of those worlds. The power and luxury is obvious. It’s clean and rich and elegant, showing ridiculous berry and brine on the nose in a deep–while still transparent–dark ruby body. Etches of tobacco and chocolate infiltrate the bouquet, but the base-line remains pure, Pinot fruit: dancingly light and almost effervescent.

In the mouth,NOTHING gets in the way of varietal bite. Delicious cranberry and sour apple lay firmly on a briary core, acid tingling every pore and tannin welcome at early points. It’s sharp. It’s bright. It’s complex: layered with funky magic we all demand in a pinot and which often get buried with the kind of things the 99% love in expensive, flagship bottlings. This producer has managed to take his dedication to the grape and place it firmly in a reserve blend of the region showcasing every item his *ordinary* bottles show individually.

2022 DUSTY NABOR ‘DNW/SRH’ Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills Santa Barbara Co. 13.0

https://dustynaborwines.com/