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The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 is a $15.99 wine at Costco, $25 to $35 elsewhere.
Babs is a project by John Wagner, he owns Peake Ranch Winery with three vineyards two in the Santa Rita Hills AVA and one in the Santa Maria AVA, all within Santa Barbara County and all very high-end vineyards. Since the vineyards are in two different AVAs the bottle says the location is the larger Santa Barbara County AVA.
And winemaker Adam Lee has about 40 years of experience in California Pinot Noir and one of his goals is to “produce and promote high-quality, fairly-priced Pinot Noirs”.
The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 has received scores of 93 points and I read one reviewer compared this Pinot Noir to $65 wines.
I could not find production notes for the Babs (Babs is 1950s slang for Barbara), but I don’t think that matters.
We have a value-priced boutique Pinot Noir with grapes from one of the best growers in Santa Barbara County and a winemaker who is an acknowledged expert at producing California Pinot Noir.
Since this is selling at Costco for $10 to $20 less than the typical selling price we should toast to our good luck and pour another glass. The alcohol content is a stout 15.1%.
The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir-Review Tasting Notes
The color is a clean, clear garnet red with black highlights. The nose is cherry, herbs, dried fall leaves, black pepper, nutmeg, leather, plum, and a hint of bacon fat. The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 is far more intense and focused than the usual under $20 Pinot Noir.
This Pinot Noir Tastes like extracted cherry, sharp spice, black tea, licorice, herbs, and ripe, juicy plum. The mid-palate adds orange zest, jammy raspberry, exotic spice, and cranberry.
The Summary
- The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 is a must-try wine.
- The 15.1% alcohol is a little above my Pinot Noir comfort zone, but this is a quality Pinot at an outstanding price.
- It is full of flavor with good complexity and a real bargain!
