Palate: Classic bright Santa Rita Pinot flavors, long fruit finish
Grown just miles from the ocean in white sandy soil, this exceptional Santa Rita Hills vineyard allows Pinot Noir grapes to develop bright fresh berry Pinot Noir flavors. Made 100% from the richly structured Clone 777 Pinot Noir we crushed our 2018 Pinot Noir into small open top fermenters and cold-soaked for two days. The must was inoculated and fermented on the skins for two weeks to develop full rich flavor and structure of fresh berries with a hint of vanilla.
Food Pairing
Pairs with grilled salmon, baked mushroom dishes, and roast duck.
Specs
Varietal Composition: 100% Pinot Noir
Appellation: Santa Rita Hills
Harvest: Average brix: 25.4, pH: 3.34, TA: 0.65 g/100ml
Cooperage / Aging: The wine was aged for 10 months in French oak barrels.
Nestled in an oak tree-studded 24-acre vineyard located in the heart of Santa Barbara County, Roblar Winery and Vineyards reflects the spirit of Santa Ynez Valley - rustic, authentic, and bold. Our philosophy is to express the spirit of our proprietors, the Gleason Family, by bringing together great wine, great food, and great friends.
Great wine starts in the vineyard. This is our philosophy. Our skilled vineyard management team works hard in the vineyard through each growing cycle: from pruning the vines in late winter, to shoot thinning and shoot positioning in the spring, to dropping excess fruit and engaging in canopy management in the summer, and finally, to harvesting the grapes at the absolute peak of ripeness and balance in the fall. We treat the wines with utmost respect.
Our winery is limited to approximately 8,000 cases per year, We annually source Pinot Noir from trusted partners in the Santa Rita Hills where the cool climate is well suited to producing world class Pinot Noir grapes.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Roblar Winery & Vineyards Pinot Noir - $70 = 29.16%
Roblar mass produces certain wines that are not available at the winery. I regularly spot these at Grocery Outlet stores. I visit Santa Ynez regularly but haven’t been to Roblar in ages! Curious about what the rats, if any, think.
@losthighwayz We have a CA tier program, Estate level and non-estate program. The CA wines are in Grocery Outlet and 100% sourced and are not near the caliber of this wine. The estate wines include this SRH Pinot which is light to medium bodied and packed with flavor. Come back and visit us soon, my family has been running the place since 2017 and we are a lovely place to be with socially distanced tastings on our vineyard pergola!
@RoblarWinery we will visit you when we are up in the next few weeks for pick ups at Demetria, Andrew Murray, Cambria, and Story of Soil! Anyone I should ask for? Thanks for jumping on here.
@losthighwayz@tercerowines We have been sourcing this for 5+ yrs so while it is not on our Refugio or Roblar estates, we consider it a part of our “estate” program.
Short and sweet: this is very much a fruit-driven, lithe Pinot that “feels” like the Santa Rita Hills.
I received word of the rat bottle last week and took a peek at the shipping manifest name, “ROBLARPINOTNOIR” it read – i was intrigued! Roblar isn’t one i knew of, but it turns out a coworker went to the tasting room in March! And he really enjoyed it!!
Back to the wine… Into the cellar for two days to chill out.
One thing i’ll point out – size of bottle. I have a cellar that features the “narrow” bottling racks. Champagne is definitely not gonna fit, and “wide” Burgundy or Syrah bottles require a smidge of bending. This went right in at 3 1/8", so more in line with the Nacina and 2008 WineSmith PN range. I appreciate that.
On to the experience!
The label is elegant – the silver “O” is a good touch. Maybe like the moon? Maybe i’m reading too much in to it…
Popped the natural cork and i see no issues there. The cork had a few voids on the side so the wine was able to creep up a bit, but nothing bad.
My wife and i did this tasting over two days, so i’ll start with day one:
Initial observations. This wine is crystal clear. No haze, no clouds, no nothing. Just a nice, rich bright ruby. Possibly the most clear red i’ve seen in a while.
Smell is all bright cranberry and strawberry. The back label says blueberry/cherry/raspberry, but i’m getting more tart/acidic red fruits than that. It’s a nice smell right out of the bottle – fresh, clean, crisp.
In the mouth it has no earthiness, funk, or anything other than pure vibrant fruit. Not even much of a kick of alcohol, it remained almost juicelike.
After 20 minutes in the glass it started to open a little bit more – there was more “tart” in the mix which i likened to a red apple, along with a touch of alcohol heat.
Day TWO:
Left on the counter overnight, stopped with its own cork.
Both my wife and i enjoyed it more on day one. The wine added more structure over night, but just wasn’t as “fun”. Still tended toward the tart red fruits with some raspberry joining the mix.
Overall impression:
This would be the perfect crowd pleaser. We enjoyed it with fish tacos and it worked quite well bouncing off the fruit salsas we made. I think the case price is great. Would i keep it cellar it? Probably not. It’s fun and youthful and i’d hate to miss that.
In my “What are you drinking” post i mentioned a compare-and-contrast opening on night two. I popped a 2019 Division Winemaking Co “Methode Carbonique” from Oregon. Yes, i know this is a total 180 from Sta. Rita Hills, and i just wanted to see what i liked (or didn’t like).
Trying out the Oregon made me appreciate the lightness and airiness of the Roblar. It felt like drinking sunshine, and i don’t think i’ve felt that before. The wine terms for the Sta. Rita Hills wine were familiar – fruit, berry, bright, etc. While my wife and i talked a long time about the taste and nose and hue, it was easy to talk about.
Last point, and i write this before seeing if there is winery participation. The tasting room is in Santa Ynez, but the back label says Roblar is out of Healdsburg. I’m curious where the production happens.
@radiolysis thanks for the in depth report! The wines have been produced in Healdsburg since 2016 at our sister winery. In 2017, my family took over the winery and we just completed a construction project at the estate in Santa Ynez. Starting this vintage, everything will be produced and bottled in Santa Ynez, we are very excited!
@klezman@radiolysis@RoblarWinery not Roblar, but I think they meant the former owners had a sister winery up in that area. The new owners have a estates at the winery itself and another one deeper into Santa Ynez up the road from Brave and Maiden and Sunstone . . .
@klezman@radiolysis@tercerowines Thanks @tercerowines! Correct indeed. The former owners consolidated their wine making operations in a Sonoma based winery. Since our family’s acquisition, we have worked extremely hard to take a more local approach to wine making. Starting with the 2020 vintage, expect that back label to proudly say Santa Ynez!
We received the bottle last week and planned to open it up Sunday night after my wife got back from NYC.
As I was just about to open the bottle I hear a scream from my wife! Off to urgent care we go, she cut the tip of her finger. All is ok, she got it bagged up and some pain meds.
To the wine…
The natural cork came out smooth with little staining.
The wine is clear and light ruby color.
The first sniff came with a little funk but that blew off quickly.
My nose got tart cherry pie maybe rhubarb cherry. I was also getting some herbaceous (the wife disagreed) notes that I quite couldn’t pin point. The wife (drinking with her good hand) said there were antiseptic hints. After an hour or so I got lots of strawberries and ripe cherry.
On the palate, I got similar cherry and strawberry hints. The noise is more prominent than the palate. I would say this is a light pinot with a medium finish. The fruit comes off with balanced acid.
We would say this is a good deal at sub $15. We are not sure we would pay $40 for this pinot. That said, we tend to like bigger wines.
@Nel250 Thanks for review! Hopefully no emergency room visits were required… I hear you about the big pinot vibe. I too put pinots in two categories: Barnyard and Fruity. Barnyard pinots have that earthiness and stink that rolls over your nostrils and is more savory in flavor profile. We generally take the opposite approach at Roblar to provide a freshness of fruit and leaner body. Generally I chill this wine a little more than most and enjoy on a hot day. Think Turkey and Chicken vs Red meat and duck. Tastes beautifully with fresh cranberry sauce!
They have one of their email ‘sales’ on right now that I usually use to stock up the cellar :
6 bottle half case $99.99 (104.99 all reds) - $16 per Bottle
12 bottle case $179.99 (189.99 all reds) - $15 per Bottle
2 cases $309.99 (329.99 all reds) - $13 per Bottle
3 cases $419.99 (449.99 all reds) - $11 per Bottle
(free ship)
@ecue The Cab Franc comes from our Estate and is also one of my favorite wines! Cab Sauv and Cab Franc flourish in the Los Olivos District in Santa Ynez and always sell out quickly. You have good taste!
Hi guys! Matt from Roblar winery here. Glad you are all interested in our Pinot from SRH. We take the approach to stay true to the fruit and keep it front and center on the pallet. Many of you have already noted that in your analysis.
We consider this wine to be part of our estate program. We have been sourcing exceptional Santa Rita Hills Pinot and Chard for this program for over 5 years with regularity. Other than these varietals, Roblar is now almost entirely estate produced with 24 acres in the Los Olivos District. We pride ourselves on the ability to produce wines in the Bordeaux, Rhône and Burgundy style and have just launched our new winery facility on site. Hello estate produced and bottled!
Let’s get down to price. This wine retails for $40. Deal hunters out there are already looking on our website and see our mystery case offers. This is totally unrelated to what we are doing here. The mystery cases are wines we source from all over CA and are specifically bottled for that program. Additionally, we do not wholesale any of our estate program wines so don’t expect to be able to find this on the shelf at Albertons!
If you are intrigued by this wine, try it out on Casemates, there isn’t a better offer out there. If there was, I’d tell you!
2018 Roblar Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
Tasting Notes
Food Pairing
Specs
Included in the Box
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$563.63/Case at Roblar Winery & Vineyards for 12x 2018 Roblar Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 19 - Tuesday, Oct 20
Roblar Winery & Vineyards Pinot Noir
3 bottles for $59.99 $20/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $169.99 $14.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2018 Roblar Winery & Vineyards Pinot Noir
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Roblar Winery & Vineyards Pinot Noir - $70 = 29.16%
Looks like it can be found for $13/bottle online (not including taxes/shipping), and pretty mixed reviews…
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/roblar+pinot+noir+california+usa/1/usa
https://www.vivino.com/roblar-california-pinot-noir/w/1314668?year=2018
Would love to see some rattage, but the $40 MSRP is a little misleading…
@vandemusser This doesnt seem to be the same wine. Offer is specific to Santa Rita Hills AVA
@Scottrob30 @vandemusser Different wine. The wine offered here is indeed $40 at the winery.
https://www.roblarwinery.com/product/2018-Pinot-Noir-SRH
@kaolis @Scottrob30 My bad… my apologies!
@kaolis @Scottrob30 @vandemusser Nothing more to add here! We have a CA tier which is a far different product.
Roblar mass produces certain wines that are not available at the winery. I regularly spot these at Grocery Outlet stores. I visit Santa Ynez regularly but haven’t been to Roblar in ages! Curious about what the rats, if any, think.
@losthighwayz We have a CA tier program, Estate level and non-estate program. The CA wines are in Grocery Outlet and 100% sourced and are not near the caliber of this wine. The estate wines include this SRH Pinot which is light to medium bodied and packed with flavor. Come back and visit us soon, my family has been running the place since 2017 and we are a lovely place to be with socially distanced tastings on our vineyard pergola!
@RoblarWinery we will visit you when we are up in the next few weeks for pick ups at Demetria, Andrew Murray, Cambria, and Story of Soil! Anyone I should ask for? Thanks for jumping on here.
@losthighwayz it is best to book a reservation on our homepage here to make sure we have a space for you!
@losthighwayz ahem . . .
@losthighwayz @RoblarWinery is this an estate vineyard for Roblar or Refugio? Cheers
@losthighwayz @tercerowines We have been sourcing this for 5+ yrs so while it is not on our Refugio or Roblar estates, we consider it a part of our “estate” program.
Short and sweet: this is very much a fruit-driven, lithe Pinot that “feels” like the Santa Rita Hills.
I received word of the rat bottle last week and took a peek at the shipping manifest name, “ROBLARPINOTNOIR” it read – i was intrigued! Roblar isn’t one i knew of, but it turns out a coworker went to the tasting room in March! And he really enjoyed it!!
Back to the wine… Into the cellar for two days to chill out.
One thing i’ll point out – size of bottle. I have a cellar that features the “narrow” bottling racks. Champagne is definitely not gonna fit, and “wide” Burgundy or Syrah bottles require a smidge of bending. This went right in at 3 1/8", so more in line with the Nacina and 2008 WineSmith PN range. I appreciate that.
On to the experience!
The label is elegant – the silver “O” is a good touch. Maybe like the moon? Maybe i’m reading too much in to it…
Popped the natural cork and i see no issues there. The cork had a few voids on the side so the wine was able to creep up a bit, but nothing bad.
My wife and i did this tasting over two days, so i’ll start with day one:
Initial observations. This wine is crystal clear. No haze, no clouds, no nothing. Just a nice, rich bright ruby. Possibly the most clear red i’ve seen in a while.
Smell is all bright cranberry and strawberry. The back label says blueberry/cherry/raspberry, but i’m getting more tart/acidic red fruits than that. It’s a nice smell right out of the bottle – fresh, clean, crisp.
In the mouth it has no earthiness, funk, or anything other than pure vibrant fruit. Not even much of a kick of alcohol, it remained almost juicelike.
After 20 minutes in the glass it started to open a little bit more – there was more “tart” in the mix which i likened to a red apple, along with a touch of alcohol heat.
Day TWO:
Left on the counter overnight, stopped with its own cork.
Both my wife and i enjoyed it more on day one. The wine added more structure over night, but just wasn’t as “fun”. Still tended toward the tart red fruits with some raspberry joining the mix.
Overall impression:
This would be the perfect crowd pleaser. We enjoyed it with fish tacos and it worked quite well bouncing off the fruit salsas we made. I think the case price is great. Would i keep it cellar it? Probably not. It’s fun and youthful and i’d hate to miss that.
In my “What are you drinking” post i mentioned a compare-and-contrast opening on night two. I popped a 2019 Division Winemaking Co “Methode Carbonique” from Oregon. Yes, i know this is a total 180 from Sta. Rita Hills, and i just wanted to see what i liked (or didn’t like).
Trying out the Oregon made me appreciate the lightness and airiness of the Roblar. It felt like drinking sunshine, and i don’t think i’ve felt that before. The wine terms for the Sta. Rita Hills wine were familiar – fruit, berry, bright, etc. While my wife and i talked a long time about the taste and nose and hue, it was easy to talk about.
Last point, and i write this before seeing if there is winery participation. The tasting room is in Santa Ynez, but the back label says Roblar is out of Healdsburg. I’m curious where the production happens.
@radiolysis Really nice rattage. Thanks for writing this up.
@radiolysis thanks for the in depth report! The wines have been produced in Healdsburg since 2016 at our sister winery. In 2017, my family took over the winery and we just completed a construction project at the estate in Santa Ynez. Starting this vintage, everything will be produced and bottled in Santa Ynez, we are very excited!
@RoblarWinery Fantastic news! On-site production facilities are always handy.
@radiolysis @RoblarWinery Who’s the sister winery?
@klezman @radiolysis @RoblarWinery not Roblar, but I think they meant the former owners had a sister winery up in that area. The new owners have a estates at the winery itself and another one deeper into Santa Ynez up the road from Brave and Maiden and Sunstone . . .
@klezman @radiolysis @tercerowines Thanks @tercerowines! Correct indeed. The former owners consolidated their wine making operations in a Sonoma based winery. Since our family’s acquisition, we have worked extremely hard to take a more local approach to wine making. Starting with the 2020 vintage, expect that back label to proudly say Santa Ynez!
@klezman @radiolysis @RoblarWinery @tercerowines
So, new winemaker, beginning with which vintage?
Hello Everybody,
Glad to be back here as a Rat!
2018 Roblar Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
We received the bottle last week and planned to open it up Sunday night after my wife got back from NYC.
As I was just about to open the bottle I hear a scream from my wife! Off to urgent care we go, she cut the tip of her finger. All is ok, she got it bagged up and some pain meds.
To the wine…
The natural cork came out smooth with little staining.
The wine is clear and light ruby color.
The first sniff came with a little funk but that blew off quickly.
My nose got tart cherry pie maybe rhubarb cherry. I was also getting some herbaceous (the wife disagreed) notes that I quite couldn’t pin point. The wife (drinking with her good hand) said there were antiseptic hints. After an hour or so I got lots of strawberries and ripe cherry.
On the palate, I got similar cherry and strawberry hints. The noise is more prominent than the palate. I would say this is a light pinot with a medium finish. The fruit comes off with balanced acid.
We would say this is a good deal at sub $15. We are not sure we would pay $40 for this pinot. That said, we tend to like bigger wines.
@Nel250 @chipgreen is the end of her finger still in the bag?!
…sorry, I could not resist either.
@Nel250 Thanks for review! Hopefully no emergency room visits were required… I hear you about the big pinot vibe. I too put pinots in two categories: Barnyard and Fruity. Barnyard pinots have that earthiness and stink that rolls over your nostrils and is more savory in flavor profile. We generally take the opposite approach at Roblar to provide a freshness of fruit and leaner body. Generally I chill this wine a little more than most and enjoy on a hot day. Think Turkey and Chicken vs Red meat and duck. Tastes beautifully with fresh cranberry sauce!
Did she notice any flavors of Vicodin or Percocet?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. I hope her finger heals quickly. Thanks for the tasting notes!
One of our fav wineries.
They have one of their email ‘sales’ on right now that I usually use to stock up the cellar :
6 bottle half case $99.99 (104.99 all reds) - $16 per Bottle
12 bottle case $179.99 (189.99 all reds) - $15 per Bottle
2 cases $309.99 (329.99 all reds) - $13 per Bottle
3 cases $419.99 (449.99 all reds) - $11 per Bottle
(free ship)
Their Cab Franc was one of my all time favs.
@ecue Yikes. So the same price (if you don’t have free shipping) as this offer, but you could choose different wines? Not much of a deal here.
@ecue A couple of questions, to clarify:
@KNmeh7 Yeah, if that one has free ship on 12, the price diff between that offer and this disappears w/o VMP.
I don’t see the sale listed on their site, I guess it’s only available via that email?
@ecue @InFrom @KNmeh7 there is the “Mystery Samplers” listed on the Roblar webpage that seem to be similarly priced, so likely no choices.
@ecue @InFrom @KNmeh7 @radiolysis These wines do not include anything from our estate program. We source these from all over CA.
@ecue The Cab Franc comes from our Estate and is also one of my favorite wines! Cab Sauv and Cab Franc flourish in the Los Olivos District in Santa Ynez and always sell out quickly. You have good taste!
Hi guys! Matt from Roblar winery here. Glad you are all interested in our Pinot from SRH. We take the approach to stay true to the fruit and keep it front and center on the pallet. Many of you have already noted that in your analysis.
We consider this wine to be part of our estate program. We have been sourcing exceptional Santa Rita Hills Pinot and Chard for this program for over 5 years with regularity. Other than these varietals, Roblar is now almost entirely estate produced with 24 acres in the Los Olivos District. We pride ourselves on the ability to produce wines in the Bordeaux, Rhône and Burgundy style and have just launched our new winery facility on site. Hello estate produced and bottled!
Let’s get down to price. This wine retails for $40. Deal hunters out there are already looking on our website and see our mystery case offers. This is totally unrelated to what we are doing here. The mystery cases are wines we source from all over CA and are specifically bottled for that program. Additionally, we do not wholesale any of our estate program wines so don’t expect to be able to find this on the shelf at Albertons!
If you are intrigued by this wine, try it out on Casemates, there isn’t a better offer out there. If there was, I’d tell you!
NE OH I’m tempted. @chipgreen @boatman72 @pjmartin @marikar @lonadoonage
@mrn1 I’d be in for 3-4. Simple easy reds are up my alley.
@mrn1 WTH, sounds like a winner, I’m in for 2-3 Flexible on my end so I’ll fill in any gaps
@pjmartin @lonadoonage A case it is! I’ll pull the trigger.
@lonadoonage @mrn1 @pjmartin
I would also take 2-3 if there is room for one more.
@chipgreen @lonadoonage @pjmartin How about an even split of 3 each? Let me know if that works.
@chipgreen @lonadoonage @mrn1
You said it best yesterday, WTH, it’s only money. Works for me
@lonadoonage @mrn1 @pjmartin
Beautiful, thanks!
Fine here too!