Wine of the Day: 2013 Zotovich Pinot Noir

We’re honored to have our 2013 Zotovich Pinot Noir featured as ‘Wine of the Day’ on grapelive.com!

2013 Chanin, Pinot Noir, Zotovich Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills.
The latest from Gavin Chanin is a fantastic effort, one of the best Pinots of the vintage so far and a wine to get asap! Chanin is one of the newest members of In Pursuit of Balance and is making a huge splash in those circles with his beautiful and refined wines, he has an impressive resume as well, he has studied and made wine at Au Bon Climat and Qupe, along with making Forbes top 30 under 30 list for Wine, as well as being the winemaking partner in Lutum Wines (Another new label to watch). In the past few vintages Gavin Chanin’s wines under his Chanin label have been getting more vibrant and dynamic, his Chardonnays have been wonderful an elegant, but of course his Pinots are the main focus and they are sensational, especially this Zotovich, but also his Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido too.

The 2013 vintage has taken these wines to another level and I highly recommend checking them out, and seeing the talent the Chanin is, he has certainly joined the elite set in the Santa Barbara area and his wines will surly impress and captivate you. This 2013 Zotovich by Chanin starts with heady perfume, violets, rose petal and spicy incense lift from the glass along with fresh berries in this family deep and dark hued Pinot leading to a satin and silk laced palate of wild plum, black cherry, raspberry and tangy blueberry fruits along with minty herbs, tea spice, cinnamon and licorice notes, as well as soft wood/cedary, vanilla and cola bean. The wine shows poise, detail and grace throughout, but there is good tension, energy and drive too, with mineral tones and chalky stones adding to the complexity in this medium weighted Pinot Noir that has an excellent acidity to fruit balance and at 13.96% is full flavored, stylish and not over blown with well hidden tannins. This Pinot Noir all ready drinking well, though should gain and develop nicely over the course of a few years and it should age well too, leaving a long window of pleasure ahead, drink from 2016 to 2023.

94 Points, grapelive