Handford Wines

Dan Lee, owner of Morgan Vineyards, has been dealing with fruit from the Santa Lucia Highlands for as long as almost anyone in Monterey County. A key to making great Pinot Noir in that location, he points out, is the late-afternoon wind that runs down the Salinas Valley from deep-trenched Monterey Bay. By slowing down the ripening cycle, the stiff breezes create a faint herbal note in Pinot Noir. It is this very note that gives Lee’s Morgan Vineyards Pinots a “Monterey classic” aroma, meaning they have a distinctive green pea or tobacco/spinach note alongside penetrating cherry flavors. Still, as delightful as these wines have been, and as commercially successful, Lee’s quest to find proper cites for a more Eurocentric-classic (Burgundian) lilt to the fruit has led him to a number of vineyards on the Santa Lucia Highlands bench that really deliver distinctive flavors. His recent releases have included vineyard designates “12 Clones”, one from the acclaimed “Gary’s Vineyard” ($55), and from his own “Rosella’s Vineyard”. This wine delivers a startling aroma of ripe, fresh strawberries and has lesser notes of dried herbs and spices (like nutmeg) along with a complexing trace of petroleum. There is brilliant fruit and structure here and a load of flavor. It is one of the best Pinots I have had in years.

The Wine

A super elegant but powerful organic Chardonnay from the Single vineyard site in Santa Lucia. The Pinot Noir is already one of our favourite wines and the Chardonnay follows in a similar mould. New World in style but certainly complex and elegant.

Single Bottle: £26.95

In a case of 12: £25.60