Antica Terra Botanica 2016
Antica Terra Botanica 2016
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Antica Terra Botanica 2016

Antica Terra
$280.00

Grape: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2016
Type: Red

This small-production Pinot Noir comes from select parcels in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, chosen for their explicit fruit weight and fleshy profile. Winemaker Maggie Harrison employs a low-intervention approach in a cold cellar, letting spontaneous native fermentations run without adjustments. The grapes are fermented with a high percentage of whole clusters to introduce structural complexity and a savory foundation. It matures for over a year in French oak barriques to encourage a slow, natural integration of fruit and oak.

It exhibits a bright garnet color, releasing a perfumed nose of crushed cherry, orange zest, and sweet garden herbs. On the palate, the medium-bodied framework balances a supple texture with fine, integrated tannins that avoid heavy extraction. Succulent flavors of red plum and cranberry interweave with an underlying mineral salinity. It finishes dry and persistent, leaving a clean trail of cold stone.

Maggie Harrison is a first-generation winemaker, having grown up in the Midwest. With an educational background in International Relations and Conflict Resolution, she fell in love with wine while working in restaurants and set out to follow that passion and create wine. She went on to land the position of assistant winemaker to Manfred Krankl at Sine Qua Non, where she remained for eight years. She is currently the co-owner and winemaker for Antica Terra, producing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since 2005, and is also responsible for the Syrah at Lillian Winery in Santa Barbara. Initially, it had been her goal to only produce a singular wine, but during blind tastings for blending, she felt the various components would not necessarily complement one another and would overpower or detract from the other. Rather than force them to homogenize, each of the wines bottled today chases the individual and opposing personalities each possesses. Her wines are impeccably expressive and worth seeking out if you can get your hands on them.

I have always found with these wines that I am never compelled to overly coax the wine in tasting. They are distinctive, singular wines that, when given the time to allow the wine to come to you, make the transcendence to art.

- Audrey Frick (9/17/2023) © 2024 Jeb Dunnuck