2017 Bernardus Winery Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

There is nothing ordinary about this $30 Pinot. It’s crafted by winemaker Dean De Korth, a Monterey native who has spent time working in Burgundy with legends like Leflaive, Lafon, and Morey. That experience in the homeland of Pinot is clear in every sip of this generous, mouthwatering wine that overflows with flavors of boysenberries, black cherries, and spice. It’s impossible not to love right now, and promises another several years of maturity in the bottle. At this price, it’s easy to pick up half a case and experience the evolution yourself.

The 2017 Bernardus Pinot Noir is nothing less than bottled proof of the remarkable conditions that California’s Golden Coast benefited from in the 2017 vintage, especially during harvest. The result is a vintage of Pinot for the record books.

With those raw materials and De Korth’s 20 years of experience, something special was bound to happen—and it did. In 2017, he blended grapes from two vineyards, including Highlands and Tondré, a certified sustainable property that is increasingly respected for the long hang-time it affords the Pinot grown there—and the ambrosial sense of complexity and length in the wines that are crafted from them. Seven months in French oak (33% of it new) has added Burgundy-level finesse to this value bottling in the form of exotic spice notes and a silkiness to the tannins that is irresistible with a grilled steak or a simple bowl of wild-mushroom pasta. 

Today, the 2017 is a beacon of Burgundy-meets-California value showing “flavors of tangy boysenberry, wet soil, clay, dried herbs and a hint of earthy juniper,” according to Wine Enthusiast. Kosta Browne’s 2017 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir will set you back over $100, but this 2017 Bernardus boasts the same-appellation provenance, a Burgundy expert, a homegrown winemaker, and a price that makes stocking up a no-brainer. Bernardus normally tops the charts with swanky, vineyard-designate Pinot Noirs that keep the Monterey champion on every critic's radar, but their Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot may be the best Bernardus value on the market.