2020 Tortoise Creek Pinot Noir California 750 ml

Mel and Janie Master deal in small-batch and under-the-radar wines. They made their name unearthing vinous gems in France for the US market. When they arrived stateside to start Tortoise Creek, they used their same sleuthing skills to unearth stellar vineyard sources.

Their sustainably grown 2020 Pinot Noir—a wine of structure, lively acidity, and rich fruit—highlights two of California’s undersung Pinot regions.

Nearly all the fruit came from Clarksburg on the Sacramento River delta, which doesn’t experience the same maritime fog as Sonoma but does get cooling afternoon breezes from San Francisco Bay. The remaining grapes came from vineyards in Monterey that lie behind the Santa Lucia Mountains, where they received ample sunshine but still enjoyed the moderating influence of the Pacific at night. That combination of daytime warmth and overnight chill yielded Pinot Noir that’s both concentrated and refreshing.

Wine Enthusiast called this lively, ruby-hued beauty “well-structured” and “quite appetizing,” but that’s just the start. Kicking off with an aromatic tapestry of raspberry, kola nut, roses, and forest floor, it’s an unputdownable, food-friendly treat full of bright red fruit interwoven with threads of spice and vivacious acidity.

Born in England, the Masters have spent nearly their entire lives working in wine. They moved to France in the 1970s and started their eponymous wine company to introduce exceptional French wines to US connoisseurs who might not experience them otherwise. They founded Tortoise Creek in 1997 to make enticing, small-production wines from conscientiously farmed vineyards.

This Pinot shows they’ve succeeded. They harvested the grapes at night, then fermented each lot separately. After resting for seven months in French oak, the wine emerged as a fresh, supple expression of its sun-drenched vineyards.