2017 Ojai Vineyard Pinot Noir Fe Ciega Vineyard Santa Rita Hills 750 ml

With only 209 cases produced, Fe Ciega Pinot is one of Ojai Vineyard’s most limited—and most coveted—bottlings. It almost never makes it off the Santa Barbara coast, so we made the six and a half hour drive down Highway 101 a few months ago to pry some of the 2017 away from proprietor Adam Tolmach in person. It wasn’t easy with its newly minted 95-point score, but after tasting this mouthwatering Pinot, we told Adam we simply weren’t leaving without an allocation.

“Fine,” he relented. “My one condition is you have to see the vineyard while you’re here.” Deal.

Critic Jeb Dunnuck raved,  “the 2017 Fe Ciega Vineyard is as classic a Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir as I could imagine,” and with its expressive sour cherry, wild strawberry, and crushed raspberry, he hit the nail on the head. Hints of white pepper, dried violet, and clove provide the “sense of gravitas” Vinous’ Antonio Galloni described. Impressively structured with character in spades, bright cherry and red berry persist with complex notes of cocoa, earthy mushroom, and allspice. Ample tannins and a brisk acidic backbone ensure this will age gracefully for over a decade.

On our drive north from the Ojai winery, Adam said, “with Pinot Noir, climate trumps everything,” and indeed, as we took a sharp left west towards a misty horizon, we were reminded of the region’s famous east-west valleys, leaving no barrier to the ocean’s cooling influence. The Fe Ciega site is located on a small ridge at the very western end of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, which The New York Times’ wine critic dubbed one of “the four most interesting areas for California Pinot Noir.” Its proximity to the Pacific, thin clay soils over fractured shale, and gentle southern exposure all combine to produce intensely concentrated grapes, and therefore wines. 

It’s been eight years since we last offered Ojai Vineyard’s gorgeous Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir, though after the dozens of five-star reviews from Wine Access members who purchased that vintage, it’s not for lack of trying. It inspired dozens of member raves including, “the layers of fruit and nuances far eclipse any other wine I have ever tried,” and “this is what sophistication means to wine,” and our favorite: “Sometimes I have to laugh at the flowery reviews of critics who heap accolades on a bottle of wine, but [Fe Ciega] finally brings meaning to all of the verbosity.”

To truly earn his prized Fe Ciega at the best price in the country, Adam timed our drive so we could experience the “sea smoke” first-hand—the famous maritime fog that rolls in from Point Conception at dusk, coating the hillside vineyards at the southern tip of the Sta. Rita Hills. Clad in our SoCal t-shirt and sandal uniforms, we lasted about six minutes before Adam agreed to wrap up our visit in comfort of The Hitching Post bar back in Buellton.

Other than freezing the uninitiated (and underdressed), that fog influence serves to slow the ripening process and provides the extended maturation period essential to the development of top-quality Pinot Noir. It’s such a defining factor in the success of the wines from this area that neighboring Sea Smoke Estate named their $100+ bottlings after it—though we think this adjacent eight-acre parcel yields equally mesmerizing Pinot for less than half the price.

Over gin martinis and hot fries, Adam told us how Rick Longoria, another local wine legend and Wine Access favorite, discovered the site for Fe Ciega while at a luncheon on the Santa Ynez River. He glanced up the hill and nudged the stranger sitting next to him, noting its great vineyard potential. The stranger turned out to be the property’s owner who leased it to Rick to farm. Once Rick realized its world-class potential, he did what any passionate winegrower would do. He brought in “the competition,” reaching out to his old friend, Adam Tolmach, to see what the famed Pinot guru could fashion from Fe Ciega’s tiny, blueberry-sized grapes. That was almost two decades ago.

Rick agrees that Fe Ciega now constitutes one of Adam’s most beguiling Pinots each year, which is saying something. As one of the pioneers of the Santa Barbara wine scene, Adam founded the legendary Au Bon Climat with Jim Clendenen in the early 1980s before starting Ojai Vineyards to prove that cool-climate sites could produce the region’s best iteration of Pinot Noir.

With generous examples like this 2017 Ojai Vineyards Fe Ciega Pinot Noir, Adam has made his point—and so have Wine Access members, with the feedback they gave us on the last vintage we offered. At our fantastic price, don’t get left out in the cold on this 95-point wine.