Story of Soil Duvarita Vineyard Pinot Noir Review

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Duvarita Vineyard Pinot Noir: What I think

Before Jessica Gasca set out on her own with Story of Soil, she worked at Dragonette Cellars. That's where I met her, in their tasting room, where she showered us with wisdom and eventually disclosed she had started her own winery.

We patiently waited years to see what she would do on her own (partially because it took her a while to get her tasting room open, but also partially because things like COVID got in our way). Our first visit to her Los Olivos tasting room was on October 26, 2021 and it was wonderful to taste through her Carbonic Grenache, Gold Coast Pinot Noir, Grenache from Stolpman Vineyards fruit, and a Syrah also from Duvarita Vineyards.

This was the first day of our first post-COVID wine tasting trip, visiting a whopping 21 wineries in total, so we limited our purchases to two bottles of the Duvarita Vineyard Pinot Noir. We love this vineyard, and Jessica really did the fruit and the vineyard justice.

At the tasting room I made these notes: 50% stem inclusion, the clone was Estrella, the wine spent 22 months in barrel, and I tasted meaty/smokiness, Kirsch, and mild black pepper.

We age most of our wine (the stuff we buy via wine tasting at least), and so 2+ years later it was time to open our loot and see how it was tasting.

This time around the smokiness was still present, but the Kirsch had mellowed into more of a cherry cranberry sort of thing — eventually I decided it was like a cranberry tart (in a good way). The wine had a medium to long finish, and was quite smooth but just slightly toothy (in a good way).

We have one more bottle stashed in the cellar, so I’ll update this review again when we crack it open later this year.

About Story of Soil. Our first visit on this tasting trip was to Sanguis — a new to us winery in Santa Barbara. Reading the "Story" of the Story of Soil, I see Jessica apprenticed there for three years, learning their precision method of, well, everything and the rhythms of intentional winemaking. Check out Story of Soil and enjoy the Insta feed.

About the Duvarita Vineyard. Long one of our favorite Santa Barbara vineyards, we became familiar with it via Dragonette Cellars and Ken Brown Wines. Duvarita is out in the western part of the AVA called Sta. Rita Hills (the abbreviation is official). They are Demeter-certified biodynamic (since 2014) and employ regenerative farming practices to tend to their 28 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Viognier. Learn about the vineyard and enjoy their Insta feed.

Last updated: May 7, 2023