2021 Lumen Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley 750 ml

Lane Tanner is the definition of a Pinot Noir legend. 

Mentored by the Russian-born father of California wine, André Tchelistcheff, she’s a pioneer who helped put Santa Barbara Pinot on the map. Internationally beloved for the unwaveringly elegant Pinot Noirs she’s made over the years, she was well-deserving of her nomination for Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Award (aka a “Wine Oscar”) as Winemaker of the Year.

For 16 years—well before the movie Sideways put Santa Barbara Pinot on the map—Tanner was the only winemaker in the region dedicating 100% of her production to Pinot Noir. That gave her plenty of time to perfect her deft touch with the notoriously high-maintenance variety, earning her the alias the "Pinot Czarina."

That nickname has as much to do with Tchelistcheff, who promoted her to enologist on her very first day working in a cellar in the 1970s (when she didn’t even know what an enologist was). He liked her instincts and spunk as much as he did her chemistry degree, and her career was born. She went on to head winemaking at Firestone, Zaca Mesa, and the Hitching Post, where she made the very house Pinot that Paul Giamatti made famous in Sideways.

Since then, Tanner has become beloved for her distinctive minimalistic style, which was as radical to her peers in the 1980s and 1990s as it is celebrated today. We’d expect nothing less from the first independent female winemaker in Santa Barbara County.  Her foresight extended to ethical farming as well (1% of her profits go to eco-minded non-profits), and she continues to source exclusively from sustainable and biodynamic vineyards, which she credits for the marked liveliness of her wines.