Steele Pinot Noir Carneros

We started making Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara to complement our tremendously popular Carneros Pinot Noir. Where Carneros Pinot leans toward bright fresh raspberry and cherry notes Santa Barbara Pinots are dark rich and complex with dried cherry herb sassafras and cola flavors. The two wines form a great partnership in showcasing the breadth of style in California Pinot Noir. Vineyards Bien Nacido a nine hundred acre vineyard in Santa Maria is well known for it’s chardonnay and pinot noir plantings. For years STEELE has sourced pinot from this famous site for our vineyard designated Block N’ bottling. For the Santa Barbara label we pick from Block F a younger-vine benchland site and blend it with grapes from the lower elevation Goodchild Vineyard. The interplay between the Bien Nacido’s Dijon Clones and the Goodchild’s Pommard make for a wine of great nuance and harmony. Winemaking We take a hands-off approach with our pinots beginning with rollers out at the crusher