Jackson Estate Seco Highlands Pinot Noir 2020
This limited-release Seco Highlands Pinot Noir allows our winemakers to emphasize the extraordinary terroir of our unique properties and craft very small lots for refined palates. The vineyard is just the right distance from the Pacific Ocean to balance warm, sun-drenched days for ripeness, with the cooling effect of a marine layer (fog) and cold nights for bright, fresh acidity. Complex regions create the most interesting wines. Integrated oak imparts a hint of smoke on top of the fruit and earth-tones in the nose.
Acclaim
2019 VINTAGE
93 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous, April 2020
The 2018 Pinot Noir Seco Highlands is bright, floral and very, very beautiful. Crushed red berries, mint, spice and rose petal all grace this exquisite, beautifully lifted Pinot Noir from Kendall-Jackson. This is a "wow" wine.
2017 Vintage
93+ points, Erin Brooks, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, Feb 2020
The 2017 Pinot Noir Jackson Estate Seco Highlands, aged 10 months in 30% new French oak, has a pale to medium ruby color and opens with some reductive notes of struck match/gunflint. With air, it offers olive, woodsmoke, bacon fat, roasted cranberries, dried citrus peel, tree bark and amaro aromas. Medium-bodied and silky, it's intense and expressive in the mouth, with a firm frame of grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and bitters laced. This needs more time in bottle or a good decant.
Winemaking
This wine was aged 12 months in 100% French oak barrels, 28% new
Vineyards
The Arroyo Seco (Spanish for Dry Creek) appellation of Monterey County is in the center of the chilled Salinas Valley.
Elevation: 250-350 feet above sea level
Soil: Western slope of Arroyo Seco region that is an alluvial bench of sandy loam and gravel soils.
Climate: Quite windy, yet nestled against the Santa Lucia Mountains, which reduces the wind factor. Fog is usually thick, coming in daily from the Monterey Bay.
