Thomas Fogarty Henry Ayrton's Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains 2018 (750ml) *

The Santa Cruz Mountains sit high above the fog line, and the Pinot Noir grown there tends to carry both ripeness and tension. This is a single-block bottling, Henry Ayrton's Block within the Rapley Trail Vineyard, made by Thomas Fogarty from the 2018 vintage. It is Pinot at its more concentrated end, built for the shopper who wants intensity rather than delicacy.

Everything here reads as dialed up. There is real depth and a kind of explosive richness on the palate, with blood orange and red and purplish berry fruit leading the way. Around that core sit spice, a lift of mint, and a thread of incense that gives the wine unusual complexity. Expressive and full of energy, it shows what a warm-sited mountain vineyard can do with this grape.