Testarossa and Siduri Garys' Pinot Noirs Blindtasted

Introduction by Ross B., tasting organizer
Garys' Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands is the joint brainchild of two famous Garys', Mr. Pisoni and Mr. Francioni. The two Garys had been childhood friends, and both came from families who had been vegetable farmers for generations. The former already had his own very successful Pisoni vineyard, one of the most sought-after sources of Pinot in America. And Gary F is married to Rosella, of the almost as famous and almost as sought after Rosella's Vineyard, also in Santa Lucia Highlands. So the notion of starting a vineyard together seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

In 1996, they found a promising piece of benchland in the heart of the Santa Lucia Highlands. Although there was some debate of the right grapes to plant, they settled on Pinot Noir and Syrah. By the third leaf, the vineyard was already in high demand for its Pinot, and ten years later, it has reached a level of fame almost comparable to the Pisoni vineyard.

On Thursday, we will try four Garys' Pinots each from two wineries who were early pioneers in establishing Garys' as a destination site for Pinot Noir, Testarossa and Siduri. Both continue to make extremely successful wines (both Pinots and Syrahs) from the vineyard. However, the styles of the Garys' Pinots from the two vineyards are remarkably different. Testarossa makes a somewhat lighter, perhaps slightly more elegant Garys', while Siduri makes a more masculine, somewhat richer version. If the wines were from Burgundy, one might guess the Testarossas to have a Cotes du Beaune heritage while the Siduris veer towards Cotes de Nuits. I find both versions to be very attractive, and the real wonder is that a single vineyard can deliver such a range of expressions.

Very nice Pinots from the same Santa Lucia Highlands vineyard. The clear standout for the group was the '01 Siduri version, but our number two wine was Testarossa's from the same year. Except for the '01 Siduri, the Testarossas had an advantage for me in my ultimate rankings, and took three of the group's top four spots. My rankings and most of our group's, however, were quite close, and moved around quite a bit as the wines opened up. Not a dog in the bunch, but some are still tight yet. We noted a greater variance in the noses than the palates, which mainly showed ripe, luscious red fruit with medium finishes. The closeness of our rankings was illustrated by the fact that, unusually for these blindtastings, every wine had at least one 1st, 2nd, 3rd and last place vote.

• 2001 Siduri Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #1 (my #1) – 76 pts; 7 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 3 lasts – darker garnet red color; tart strawberry and lime nose with a hint of chalk (and a strong iodine note after 90 minutes in the glass); big tart red fruit palate with lime and mineral notes and caramel oak edges; medium-plus finish

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• 2001 Testarossa Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #2 (my #4) – 83 pts; 2, 4, 4, 1 – lovely, refined and focused tart strawberry and caramel nose; ripe and plush strawberry, red fruit palate with tart flavors and a cola note; medium-plus finish 90+ pts. (for me, the night's best nose)

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• 2003 Testarossa Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #3 (my #2) – 89 pts; 3, 3, 2, 3 – sweet, brown sugar and caramel nose with VA; tart juicy red fruit, cherry, raspberry and cola palate, young yet; medium finish 91+ pts.

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• 2000 Testarossa Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 88 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #4 (my #7) – 97 pts; 4, 1, 3, 2 – cherry and a little hot on nose; simple, big, tart cherry, cherry jam palate, a little tight yet; medium finish 88+ pts.

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• 2004 Siduri Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #5 (my #5) – 97 pts.; 2, 1, 3, 1 – nice strawberry liqueur and caramel oak nose; nice sweet red fruit entry, rich strawberry liqueur midpalate; medium finish

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• 2002 Testarossa Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #6 (my #3) – 104 pts.; 1, 3, 2, 4 – vanilla and medium sweet cherry and oak nose; tart red fruit with brown sugar edges, good acidity, tight and young yet; juicy medium sugary finish

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• 2003 Siduri Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 87 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #7 (my #8) – 106 pts.; 1, 1, 1, 2 – warm raspberry nose; ripe red fruit and cherry palate, lower in acidity than most, with oak notes; medium finish

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• 2002 Siduri Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #8 (my #6) – 107 pts.; 1, 3, 1, 3 – darker garnet red color; big, hot sweet strawberry nose with odd fig and port notes appearing as it sat in the glass; big tart strawberry and port-like red fruit palate with good acidity; juicy medium-plus finish

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