When you buy today’s bundle, you’ll receive six (6) 750ml. bottles of Sanford Winery 2014 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir and one (1) 1.5l Magnum bottle of the 2013 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. You may purchase multiple bundles, but we encourage you to only purchase 3 bundles or less - so that your fellow Operatives can get in on this special deal.

Both of these wines have multiple 90+ point scores, so this bundle will not last the day.

We have something very special for you, today, dear Operative! You’ll get a Magnum bottle (1.5 liters) of Sanford Winery’s exquisite 2013 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir for just one penny, when you buy today’s bundle of 6 bottles of 2014 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir. You’ll save $208 on each 7 bottle bundle that you purchase.

For those not in the know about Sanford, here are two things that you should know: One, they are regarded as one of the premier Pinot Noir producers in California and, two, they were featured in the 2004 academy award-winning cult film, Sideways, which starred Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church. Sideways was singlehandedly responsible for the huge uptick in the popularity of exceptional California Pinot Noir.

Here’s a fun scene from the movie, shot at one of Sanford Winery’s locations:

Today’s wines are both impeccable expressions of Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir. These wines are at once elegant, flavorful and deeply aromatic. Generous flavors and aromas abound, and the mouthfeel of both wines is soft and silky, with easy tannin. If the 2014 is fantastic, then the 2013 Magnum is downright incredible. We won’t always finish our review bottles, but our tasting panel spent hours with these wines, swirling, sniffing and just plain admiring these great wines. Both bottles were emptied in the end.

Here are our notes on the 2013 Magnum:

The coloration on this wine is just beautiful with an excellent maroon hue and color consistency throughout. Its nose is simply gorgeous with extremely enticing aromas of lavender, violets, gunpowder/flint, dusty bramble, rhubarb, red plum, and raspberries. The flavor profile brings barrel nuances into the fold with vanilla and creme brulee complimenting the fruit flavors of boysenberry, black plum, and fig. Supreme Pinot Noir with silken, smooth, velvety tannin lightly caressing the palate with a nice medium body and huge fruit profile. This versatile mag is all you need to bring next time you go to your favorite restaurant. It will pair well with any prix fixe.

And here are our notes on the 2014 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard:

Absolutely beautiful crimson hue permeates consistently through this medium density Pinot Noir. On the leading edge it hits you with some perfumed cinnamon and allspice, then it comes through with enticing red cherry, cassis, and potpourri. Wow! The palate is luscious with bright red fruit leading the charge. The ripe red cherry and red plum pops. Then comes a beautiful limestone minerality followed by notes of black tea and tobacco. Perfect tartness and sweetness balance out like yin and yang. It’s held together with flawless tannin and a long finish. Go for broke and try a heavier slice of fish, such as swordfish.

Check out the full review and details of this wine here.

Enjoy!!

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Here’s what the wine press has to say.

93 Points - Matt Kettman, Wine Enthusiast - “From the producer’s iconic and historic vineyard comes this classic bottling, with red cherries, crushed brick, anise, tart plum skin, candied rose water and even a touch of tobacco on the nose. It’s crisp and fresh on the sip, where more flavors of red cherry and anise meet with thyme and bay leaf.”

90 Points - Jeb Dunnuck - “From the producer’s iconic and historic vineyard comes this classic bottling, with red cherries, crushed brick, anise, tart plum skin, candied rose water and even a touch of tobacco on the nose. It’s crisp and fresh on the sip, where more flavors of red cherry and anise meet with thyme and bay leaf.”

93 Points - Anthony Dias Blue, The Tasting Panel - “Lush and dense with ripe cherry and smooth texture; deep, juicy and balanced; complex and long.”

91 Points - Allen Meadows, Burghound - “This is at once the most elegant and the most complex wine in the range with its spicy and floral-inflected red berry fruit aromas that display a hint of Asian-style tea. There is fine vivacity to the detailed, punchy and pure medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by relatively fine-grained tannins on the sneaky long if compact finish. It’s clear that this is still very much on the way up and will need time to unwind, flesh out and improve depth and as such I would buy this only if you plan to cellar it for a few years first. Drink 2021+.”