This is a dark and rich and very complex wine.  For a full presentation of how good this vineyard is, let the wine rest in the bottle for a few years or more.  It will probably be beautiful for 15yrs. If your cork screw calls before then, it is a very rich wine, so you will enjoy it. Put it in a nice big glass so it gets some air and a chance to wake up just a bit.

Note from the Winemaker:

Each year I gratefully receive the fruit from Block 3 at the Bentrock Vineyard. Along with the Chardonnay in Block 1 and the Pinot Noir in Blocks 2 and 4, these magical little vineyards all sit on top of a small bench perched at the north end of Bentrock, looking down over Santa Rosa Road and the Santa Ynez River. It was one of those little geographical protrusions that I used to drool over as I drove around what would much later become the Sta. Rita Hills. Looking at that ethereal, unplanted little patch of dirt, I wondered, “what if?” “What if someday there's a vineyard on top of that thing? That would probably be pretty righteous.” Well, that someday came to pass, and Déjà Vu's vines, clinging to that perch for a decade, are now fully mature.

As in years past, this 2017 bottling is very dark and rich by Pinot Noir standards. But in this vintage, it’s the complexity that is absolutely uncanny. In the nose, there is almost an extreme presentation of earth with gobs of spice. It’s to the point where if I had to pin a single concept on it, it would be SPECTACLE. There is a sweetness in the nose that is like a baked, almost smoky mocha. I have never smelled anything quite like it. The fruit is identifiably cherries on the nose and palate, but it is enveloped by the beautiful French oak that was hand made for me by my buddy, Jerome Fouailly, in Burgundy. In the finish, there is a density of fruit and fineness of tannin that I find in very few Pinots. For a full presentation of how good this vineyard is, let the wine rest in the bottle for a few years or more. If, before then, your corkscrew calls, it is a rich wine, so you will definitely enjoy it.

I recommend at least putting it in a nice big glass so it gets some air and a chance to wake up just a bit. Over the next couple years, decanting it would not be a bad idea. There is a lot of talk these days about Terroir. Too often I taste wines that are supposed to be terroir driven but there’s really no “there” there. A lot of times those wines are perfectly nice, but they don’t tell the story of soil or specific vineyard location. With this wine, dirt and location are front and center. While the foundation is the soil, part of it is also the farming. Bentrock is farmed by Ruben Solorzano of Coastal Vineyard Care who is one of the best in the business. As for the dirt, Block 3 at Bentrock is arguably the best block of Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County. In this wine, it shows.