About the Wine

The 2018 Rusack SBC Pinot Noir is a favorite among restaurateurs. This wine is packed with bright juicy notes of strawberries, raspberries, and caramel, with subtle hints of orange meringue. Firm acidity and an elegant balance make for a very approachable food friendly wine.

The grapes for this Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir hail from three vineyards, both influenced by the cooling fog of the nearby Pacific and perfectly suited for growing Pinot Noir. The grapes are sourced from Solomon Hills Vineyard in Santa Maria (50%), and John Sebastiano Vineyard (30%) and Fiddlestix Vineyard (20%) both located in the Sta. Rita Hills.

Upon delivery to the winery early in the morning, the grapes were de-stemmed and placed into small 1-ton bins, where they were punched down by hand 2-3 times each day. The resulting wine was transferred into French oak barrels, of which 35% were new, and aged for 11 months. It was then bottled unfiltered, given a few months of bottle aging to allow the flavors to integrate, and released in Spring 2021.