Santa Lucia Highlands: Steely and Steadfast in 2022

BY BILLY NORRIS | AUGUST 29, 2024

It’s hot—hotter than it used to be and getting even hotter. I bet you’ve noticed. For industries directly related to the whims of Mother Nature and dependent upon her cooperation—say, viticulture—things are growing evermore tenuous. Up and down the West Coast of the United States, the 2022 growing season was a doozy, marked in many cases by late-season extreme heat that threw a gigantic wrench into the end stages of ripening, causing a domino effect of challenges in vineyards and wineries. This heat spared very few (if any) regions in California, but one, in particular, had an extra layer of armor for the battle: the Santa Lucia Highlands.

Looking east over the Salinas Valley from Sierra Mar Vineyard.

The SLH—A Refresher

Stretching southeast to northwest for 18 miles, the Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH) is essentially one long, narrow strip of vineyards that ascends halfway up the eastern side of the Santa Lucia Range, situated on the western edge of the Salinas Valley. It splits into two distinct sectors: the warmer, higher-elevation, rockier South Bench and the cooler, less dynamic North Bench. The SLH is essentially hidden in plain sight, only a few miles from Highway 101, but barely discernable through the ever-present dust churned up by the tractors working the agricultural fields on the valley floor. The Salinas Valley, better known as “The Salad Bowl of the World,” is a farming mecca, boasting incomparably fertile soils that yield more than half of the nation’s lettuce, in addition to 50+ other fruit and vegetable crops.

The Pisoni/Franscioni families’ two existing joint ventures, Garys’ and Soberanes, and the site of their third in development, WindRock.

Monterey Bay sits to the north, resting atop what is colloquially known as the Blue Grand Canyon, the largest submarine canyon on the Pacific Coast. Its roughly 300 cubic miles of icy-cold water reach depths of 2.5 miles, generating a super-chilling surface effect that functions like a gigantic fog machine. As the southern end of Salinas Valley heats up during the day, the warm air rises, pulling that impossibly thick fog down from the bay and blanketing the entire corridor from roughly 10pm to 10am—an effect known as the thermal rainbow. A few hours after the fog recedes, by the early afternoon hours, a chilling sustained wind roars down the valley and up the highlands, usually between 20-30mph. The pattern rarely diverges.

As for the vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, many of which sit either right at or just above the inversion layer, it’s fairly easy to understand the progression and its impact on vines: fog rolls in (it’s cold), sun comes up (slightly warmer), fog burns off (warmer still), wind kicks in (warmth recedes), sun goes down (it’s getting chilly), fog rolls in (it’s cold)…Rinse and repeat. This makes for long, reliable growing seasons with extended hang-time, which allows the fruit to develop thicker skins, ergo, more concentrated flavors and firmer tannins. The SLH is a proper cool-climate region, but the world is warming up around it.

Morning fog burns off over the undulating hills of the Pisoni Estate.

A Race to the Finish in 2022

The 2022 growing season got off to a late start, with flowering and budbreak both occurring slightly behind schedule, but things quickly accelerated. Temperatures turned warm and stayed warm throughout the late spring and early summer months. It was immediately apparent that yields would be low, which is common following a prolific vintage like 2021. Still, many growers believe that accumulated drought stress from the last ten or so years was the real culprit. Yields across the region were down by about half, which pushed ripening along at a faster clip. Rainfall, typically an insignificant 12-14 inches, was only a measly 6 inches.

The rubber met the road in the run-up to Labor Day, when forecasted temperatures above 100°F put everyone on high alert. Producers began the scramble to cull together enough manpower to get the fruit off the vines as quickly as possible. At the Pisoni Estate, a harvest can typically span over a month because of the complexities of the blocks, but in 2022? Four days. “We saw the heat coming and said, let’s not take any chances,” said Mark Pisoni. Because of the warmth of the rest of the season, many sites were ahead of the curve with phenolic and sugar ripeness anyway, so if the fruit proactively came off earlier than usual, no harm, no foul.

A block of Chardonnay leased to Patz & Hall at Soberanes Vineyard, with the Santa Lucia Range in the background.

Alas, only one day crested the three-digit mark—101°F to be exact—followed by four consecutive days above 94°F. Compared to several days well above 100°F (as high as 120°F) in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara, it becomes clear that the SLH got off relatively easily. Interestingly enough, the low temperatures got stuck between 65-70°F in the overnight hours. Adam Lee of Clarice Wine Company pointed out, “You can see that the highs weren't horrible—certainly not compared to Sonoma County. But the lows didn't allow for much non-ripening time.” In essence, the fruit was near the finish line, then the heat kicked in and stomped the accelerator, and it didn’t get cold enough at night to reset the scales and stop sugars from marching forward.

Heat Stress? What Heat Stress?

The Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Syrahs of the 2022 vintage are, somewhat surprisingly, relatively unaffected, tending to be wines of both immediacy and ample structure. The 2022 Pinot Noirs are generously fruited, approachable, bright, fresh and muscular—all hallmarks of the region, if maybe a little more open for business right out of the gate than usual (surely a function of the warmth). As a generalization, both reds and whites possess slightly lower acids across the board, but the tannins in the reds (the first place I tend to look for signs of ripening issues) are refined and polished. There is nothing about these wines as a whole that feels austere, stunted, under/overripe or heat damaged. The outliers seem to have resulted from winemakers attempting to make lighter wines than the season wanted to yield. In some cases, those oddly light wines were born of fruit picked excessively late and heavily adjusted in the winery.

Growers and producers are painfully aware of the detrimental effects of heat at harvest time, especially for thin-skinned varieties (I’m looking at you, Pinot Noir), but honestly, these wines don’t show it. If anything, the least successful offerings in 2022 are an overcompensation for a problem that never fully manifested.

Making great wine, especially in a changing climate, is a juggling act that lives at the intersection of skill, luck and alchemy. Sometimes Mother Nature is full of surprises. Winemaker Jeff Pisoni mused, “A fun anecdote—There’s more tannin and dry extract in 2022 than in 2021. I was shocked when we were measuring all this stuff out of fermentation. We have a 25-year history to try to make sense of it and attempt to come up with some rationale. But as much as we study, sometimes, like in 2022, we just don’t know. That one…I don’t have a theory.”

Young plantings at Escolle Vineyard, Caraccioli Cellars’ estate property.

The 2022 Chardonnays are consistently solid, though I don’t believe the variety is the strongest performer here (except for the 2022 Soberanes Chardonnay from ROAR, which is on another level). The wines are strong across the board but less site-transparent than the Pinots. Caraccioli Cellars’ sparkling 2018 Brut Cuvée, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, straddles both worlds; it’s on par with the finest sparkling wines being made anywhere in the United States.

I will also echo Antonio Galloni’s sentiment from last year’s report: Syrah is the true superstar of the SLH—if only the market would embrace it. Thick-skinned and utterly resistant to the effects of heat, Syrah typically doesn’t see harvest until late October or even November. Heat spikes in August and September only deepened Syrah’s fruit character in 2022—it remained unilaterally, defiantly unfazed (the phrase “’Tis but a scratch” comes to mind). Muscular, powerful and brooding, Syrahs from SLH possess all the greatest varietal characteristics: bright acids, undeniable structure, aromatic expressiveness and fruit that runs the gamut from red to blue to purple to black. The 2022 Syrahs are pretty unyielding today, but offerings from Lucia by Pisoni, Cattleya Wines, ROAR and Caraccioli Cellars (as well as Odonata, which is just outside the AVA boundary) are simply great. Tasting two exceptional older vintages of ROAR Syrah Rosella’s Vineyard (2018 and 2015) next to the current release, 2022, only served to confirm that Syrah belongs here.

Odie (the dog), Nick, Gary and Adam Franscioni (and Winemaker Scott Shapley, not pictured) turned out the three wines of the vintage in 2022.

All told, the Santa Lucia Highlands 2022s are as reliable as ever. The best wines of the vintage are truly great, but the consistency in the face of adversity is a testament to the region’s resilience. This bodes incredibly well for the viability of continued successful winemaking here in the decades to come.

I also tasted a few wines from 2023, all pointing to a vintage in line with what the rest of California experienced: beautifully long, balanced and devoid of adverse events—a winemaker’s dream. A few 2023s tasted from tank prior to bottling, namely Adam Lee’s three Pinot Noir cuvées for Clarice, show the potential to rank amongst the best the region has ever turned out. As well as the Santa Lucia Highlands performed in the far-less-than-favorable conditions of 2022, 2023 may very well turn out to be a total head-turner.

On the Horizon

Driving through the region, one quickly notices the absence of more commercial “wine country infrastructure.” The area has precious few production facilities and even fewer tasting rooms. There are no hotels (luxury or otherwise) nearby, but a plan is in the works to build a 200-room resort facility in the SLH tied to a property at the southern end of the AVA. It received county approval but is hamstrung by post-COVID logistical challenges. Depending upon who you ask, the prospects of it ever happening are questionable at best, but it would certainly provide a home base for more oenophile traffic in the region. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Ask 15 producers and expect 15 different answers.

New vineyard developments are few and far between here, but another joint venture between the Pisoni and Franscioni families has entered production. WindRock (ever so cleverly named because of its extreme windiness and rockiness) sits in the same footprint as the team’s other two co-owned properties, Soberanes and Garys’. Planted in 2020, the first fruit came off the vines in 2023 and went into ROAR’s appellation-level bottling. Based on the development and farming pedigree here, this is clearly a site to follow. Vineyard-designate releases are on the horizon in the coming years once the vines grow in age.

Adam Lee showed a compelling set of 2022s and 2023s, but the 2023 Pinot Noir Gary’s Vineyard, tasted from tank prior to bottling, is a stone-cold stunner.

Carrying the Torch

Obviously, I’m stepping into big shoes in assuming coverage of this region. After meeting and tasting with almost every grower and producer in the SLH, it is evident that Josh Raynolds’ passing left a massive void, but it’s also abundantly clear why he loved this place so much. In my first visit to the region, I was moved by the deeply collaborative, almost tribal spirit, surely informed by the traditional farming ethos of the Salinas Valley. Honorable stewardship of the land is of the utmost importance, upheld by nearly everyone here through investment in sustainable practices and biodiversity. Vineyard leases are still handshake deals—lessees work with the same rows in the same blocks every year, as opposed to prized portions being shuffled around to whoever writes the biggest check. Everybody here knows everybody. Collaboration and mutual respect are built into the region’s DNA. Gary Franscioni (one of the patriarchs of the SLH) explained, “Gary Pisoni [another patriarch] and I went to high school together in Gonzales in 1971. Our fathers went to school together in 1937. We’re longtime family friends, but at our core, we’re generational farmers.”

Adam Lee added poignantly, “The Santa Lucia Highlands is a throwback to earlier times. Here, growers can tell you stories about what vintages were like because their fathers told them what the bean harvest was like in a certain year. In the SLH, grandchildren learn their numbers by counting clusters on vines. And sustainability isn't a catchword; rather, it really means farming the land in a way where it can be passed down from generation to generation."

Either they’re all drinking the Kool-Aid, or there’s something truly special about this place. My money’s on the latter.

“The Island” at Sierra Mar Vineyard, set precariously on the mountainside in the South Bench of the SLH.

I tasted the wines for this report in July and August 2024 in the Santa Lucia Highlands and in follow-up tastings with producers conducted via video conference from my home office in Florida. I’ve also included some wines from adjacent AVAs, including Arroyo Seco, Monterey County and a few extensions of projects helmed by SLH winemakers in the Sta. Rita Hills and Sonoma County.

© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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2018 Santa Lucia Highlands: What a Difference a Year Makes, Josh Raynolds, October 2020