Cuvee Jeannette Pinot Noir
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2028
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted duck, creamy mushroom risotto, pan-seared salmon
✨ Technical Specifications
Crafted as a heartfelt tribute to founder Bill Cates' mother, the Cuvee Jeannette Pinot Noir represents the pinnacle of Dominion Tantara's winemaking artistry. This reserve bottling is a meticulous barrel selection, blending the finest, most expressive lots from prestigious, cool-climate vineyards across Santa Barbara County. Adhering to traditional French Burgundian techniques, the wine undergoes open-top fermentation with native yeasts and is aged in premium French oak barrels. The result is a Pinot Noir of profound depth and sophistication, beautifully balancing the vibrant red fruit, exotic spice, and earthy undertones characteristic of the region's wind-swept, marine-influenced terroirs with a refined, velvety structure.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1997 by Virginia natives Bill Cates and Jeff Fink, Dominion Tantara (originally founded as Tantara Winery) was born from a mutual passion for cool-climate Burgundian varieties. Operating out of the historic Rancho Tepusquet within Santa Maria Valley's celebrated Bien Nacido Vineyard, the winery sources fruit from elite Central Coast terroirs, including Dierberg, Talley Rincon, Zotovich, and old-vine blocks of Bien Nacido. Benefiting from east-west transverse maritime corridors that funnel morning fog and cool Pacific winds across benchland sandy-loam soils, the estate emphasizes long hang-times with natural acidity preservation. Viticultural practices focus on sustainable management with meticulous canopy care. Cellar vinification embraces low-intervention Burgundian traditions: selective whole-cluster fermentations, native yeasts, and aging in fine-grained French oak barriques. Benchmark bottlings include single-vineyard expressions such as Bien Nacido Vineyard O Block Chardonnay, Zotovich Vineyard Chardonnay, and Dierberg Vineyard Pinot Noir, prized for their tension, crystalline minerality, and savory aromatic depth.
🍇 Grapes
Pinot Noir
🍷 ABV
13.5-14.5%