2019 Mer Soleil Pinot Noir Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

Chuck Wagner has always been a visionary.

The man who made Caymus into Caymus—a household name and blue-chip California icon— built his reputation by spotting opportunities long before other wineries did. That’s why, in the late 1980s, when he and his son Charlie were looking for sites for their Mer Soleil project, they settled on the then-barely-known Santa Lucia Highlands.

Mer Soleil was founded on Chardonnay, but now the Wagners have drawn top-notch red fruit from Santa Lucia Highlands’ fog-shrouded slopes to produce a Cabernet-lover’s Pinot Noir that shows its blue-chip DNA through extraordinary value and dark-fruited boldness.

While the charismatic 2019 Reserve Pinot Noir is only the fourth vintage produced under the Mer Soleil label, its fast ascent hardly represents an overnight success. The roots of this carefully tended project—and its capacity to overdeliver on value—are a direct result of the Wagners’ deep connections to the land.

For Mer Soleil, Wagner picked a large swath of land that’s located just east of Talbott’s Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in what Wine Spectator called the Santa Lucia Highlands’ “star district.” The vineyards sit a stone’s throw from the roaring Pacific, where the vines are buffeted by stiff maritime winds that take the bite out of Monterey’s summer sun. These breezes refresh the vines while stretching out the growing season, allowing the grapes to achieve ideal ripeness.

The 2019 Mer Soleil Reserve Pinot Noir is the multigenerational culmination of a legendary California winegrowing legacy, and it tastes like it: bold yet rooted, elevated and polished, charming and authentic. It’s a knockout that makes one thing abundantly clear: The pedigree of Wagners' wines isn’t confined by Napa Valley—it follows wherever the family goes.