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Olivia Brion 2012 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Olivia Brion 2012 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

2024 Wine Intrigue Awards
Top Pinot Noir
Operative's Choice
2024 Wine Intrigue Awards
Top Pinot Noir
Operative's Choice

Mission Codename Praise from Caesar

Welcome to the Wine Spies Intrigue Awards for 2015! Each year we recognize our most popular and sought-after wines from the previous year - while giving our Operatives one final chance to secure some of the winning wines for themselves.

Today’s 95 point - Olivia Brion 2012 Lindsay’s Vineyard Pinot Noir is our Wine Spies 2015 Intrigue Awards winner for Top Pinot Noir.

The only place to get today’s very limited-production, handmade and nearly perfect Pinot Noir is right here, right now. We have the global exclusive. And each bottle that you buy will be hand signed by the winemaker himself.

Today’s Olivia Brion 2012 Pinot Noir, Lindsay’s Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills came about as one of winemaker David Mahaffey’s winemaker friends, the famous [REDACTED] of [REDACTED] winery made some of the special Lindsay’s Vineyard fruit available to David. The Pinot Noir grapes were perfection and David picked up enough to produce just 5 barrels.

This exquisite wine is plump, broad and very elegant. It is silky smooth, balanced and slightly weighty. The flavors, aromas and feel all speak to the richness and sassiness that Sta. Rita hills brings to the Pinot Noir party.

Here is a detailed review from Christopher Sawyer, wine critic and Sommelier:

Olivia Brion 2012 Pinot Noir, Lindsay’s Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills

“Imagine giving a well-respected winemaker from the Napa area a few bins of the fabulous Pinot Noir fruit from the Sta. Rita Hills appellation in Santa Barbara County. Let him make the wine and release it only when ready. The end result is an imaginative wine that matches up perfectly with endearing figure on the label.

The Miss Olivia Brion brand is named after the legendary tales of a sexy French-Anglo suffragette, athlete and bicycle fiend, who out-pedaled a locomotive from Canterbury to Maidstone at the turn of last century. Later, Oliva went on to unveil a series of passionate letters written to her by some of the most prominent figures of the time, including Carl Jung, Paul Gauguin, Vaslav Nijinski, Charlie Chaplin, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway and President Warren G. Harding.

Today, winemaker David Mahaffey’s latest rendition of Olivia is made with selected clones of Pinot Noir planted at Lindsay’s Vineyard on the western edge of Sta. Rita Hills. With a lovely garnet red hue, the wine opens up with lofty aromas of ripe red fruits, fresh violets, tea leaves, orange rind, and savory spices. On the palate, this flavorful wine opens up with young, lively flavors of blueberry, raspberry, ripe plum, cinnamon and clove. As the wine expands, the secondary flavors of black trumpet mushroom, wild berries and chocolate truffle rise to the top as well. Delicious, seductive, and complex.

In the end, it’s an ideal Pinot Noir to pair with appetizers like stuffed mushrooms, Ahi tuna tartare and foie gras; festive starting courses including aged goat cheeses, salads with fresh berries, and savory soups with fresh herbs; and main course specials like grilled vegetables, wild rice, pan-seared halibut, roasted chicken, gamey meats, Cassoulet and other slow-cooked styles of French cuisine.” - 95 points

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What the Winery Says 2012 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Olivia Brion
Olivia Brion
Winemaker
David Mahaffey
Varietal
Pinot Noir
Appellation
Santa Rita Hills
Vineyard
Lindsay’s Vineyard
Production
125 cases
Abv
14.1

About the Winery Olivia Brion

Olivia Brion Winemaker David Mahaffey
Olivia Brion Winemaker David Mahaffey
Olivia Brion 2012 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir 750ml Wine Bottle
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Olivia Brion 2012 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir 750ml Wine Bottle
Offer Expired Feb 01, 2016 at 11:59 pm
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