May 13, 2022 – The Pisoni Family is one of the founding—and enduring—entities of the Santa Lucia Highlands. Without Gary and his pioneering spirit planting vines as a viable alternative to romaine and iceberg, the Salinas Valley—still hands down the salad bowl of the universe—would be less diverse and way less sexy. Who could forget Gary’s famous words to his row crop farming father in support of planting vineyards, “Dad, have you ever been to a $250 lettuce tasting?”
His kids, Mark and Jeff, have heard that story so many times, they’ve doubtless dressed it up with thoughts of blue cheese and thousand island. Ironically, Mark still carries on the tradition of growing some awesome row crops, romaine and broccoli among them. He splits his time between these winter and spring crops, and the many acres of vines he tends.
But it’s the grapes that turn heads, capture hearts, and change minds.
Two efforts advanced by the Pisonis have garnered attention in the greater field of charitable causes, among them Lucy, which was begun 18 years ago as a way to combine passion with philanthropy. The family donates a dollar from each bottle sold to breast cancer research. Thus far, they’ve raised more than $125,000 for the cause. Winemaker Jeff Pisoni tells us it began with a 2003 rosé released two years later, then it caught on.
“We’d always made rosé, but we wondered if we should make something else under the Lucy label,” he recalls. “We thought about Pinot Gris, because it represents an important aspect of Monterey history. It’s really true: this is a Winkler Region 1. There was a rush to plant cool climate varieties here once that was established, including Alsatian varieties. We have the most Pinot Gris of any coastal climate.”
They call it Pico Blanco and sales from each bottle go to Ocean Conservancy, because the impact of the Monterey Bay is so huge on every aspect of winegrowing and winemaking here. “We have always written about the Bay as the funnel that feeds in the cold air and recognize what Bay does, so it makes sense to give back to efforts to preserve it,” says Jeff.
They made just 500 cases of the 2021 Pico Blanco and it is almost sold out. But they plan to increase production in 2022. It was done with all native yeast fermentations and in all neutral barrels. He notes that it might sound like orange wine, but that’s not their thing.
“I love old world producers who make great Pinot Gris using neutral barrels. I don’t like whites fermented in stainless: they are missing something. We went native on the Pinot Gris to get complexity,” says Jeff. “We used V13 for the Pinot Blanc to bring out the esters. We left it on the lees until early March to build subtle character. At first, the PG was really subtle, with citrus and floral notes. The Pinot Blanc really fills it out. I feel people would appreciate a wine that was not so simple and quaffable.”
Jeff says they will do a red this year under the Lucy label. Kirk Williams grafted some Gamay Noir they will use in it. Seems like that is the “in vogue” grape.
And then there’s Lucia. While better known for their prowess in Pinot Noir, the Pisonis have been growing Chardonnay since 1982 when Gary first planted vines, among them 2 acres of Chardonnay, at Pisoni Vineyard in the southern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA.
Additional Chardonnay vines were planted in 1999 and again in 2011, as it became clear the SLH could garner great scores and prices along with them.
They added even more Chardonnay to the Pisoni portfolio in 2006 when the Soberanes Vineyard, a joint venture with Gary Franscioni, was planted. “We have 5 clones of Chardonnay in the SLH altogether: a couple different Wente clones and a couple of suitcase clones—not our suitcase—somebody else’s!” says Jeff.
Plantings of Chard in 1999 were own-rooted and were old Wente clones, which are low yielding and known for their great concentration and acidity. “When we planted Soberanes, we wanted a mix of clones for experimenting. The mix is pretty equal. It’s fun and great from a winemaker’s point of view. The grower treats all the rows separately and we treat each separately in the winery and then blend later,” he explains.
The first Lucia Chardonnay was made in 2002. “We used Chardonnay from the original planting and did a dedicated bottling for that of about 100 cases,” says Jeff. “We were exploring aspects of what we were doing in the SLH beyond Pinot Noir. Chardonnay became a new focal point for telling our story.”
Over the years, they changed their use of barrels significantly. “We used to be more heavy-handed with oak and spice and sweetness in the older days. Now we use a lot less toast and less apparent new oak,” he says. “For our Soberanes, we have a foudre for some of our fermentations, which gives this great breadth to wine without oak influence. It imparts an incredible texture, because the larger wine volume is exposed to air in a different way. It elevates the wine. It improves ageablity, because it keeps things reductive and gives the wines more projection. They remain tight all their life by staying in a reductive state. This should mean we can age our wines longer.”
About the Wines
2021 Lucy Pinot Noir Rosé $22
At 13.9%, this pretty salmon pink drink looks like a lightweight but trust me, it is not. Generous in mouthfeel, it offers up aromas of stewed rhubarb, strawberry jam, fresh watermelon and pineapple, and flavors of fresh apricot, strawberry and yellow peach. Pisoni says he goes lighter and lighter on skin contact every year, with more whole cluster, more press cuts and less saignée.
2021 Pico Blanco, 70% Pinot Gris and 30% Pinot Blanc, Santa Lucia Highlands, $24
Lovely aromas of apple blossom, nectarine, gardenia, key lime and Meyer lemon are a hint at the key lime pie and lemon tart flavors to come. Such a pleasure to drink, with lush white peach and a touch of marzipan as it warms in the glass, if you keep it there that long! Brilliant spring and summer wine. Get some if you can.
2020 Lucia Chardonnay, Santa Lucia Highlands, SRP $50
Opening up with aromas of toasted coconut, honeycomb, ripe white peach, pineapple, toasted brioche and cotton candy, this very sweetly appealing wine presents the same flavors in abundance on the palate. The texture is weighty, close to creamy, from the 11 months in 30% new French oak. Made from grapes grown exclusively on Pisoni, Garys’ and Soberanes vineyards.
2020 Lucia Chardonnay, Soberanes Vineyard, SRP $65
The Soberanes Vineyard is a joint venture between the Pisoni and Franscioni families, and sits next to Garys’ Vineyard. Aromas of ripe orchard fruit and grilled pineapple signal richness, and that generosity is reflected in the warm, sunny flavors of peach pie, coconut cream pie dried pineapple and apricot bars.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
