The 2009 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Adobe possesses gorgeous mid-palate richness and pliancy, not to mention stunning overall balance. Sweet black cherries, plums, licorice, cola and spices flow effortlessly from this rich, dark, totally enticing Pinot. A clean, vibrant finish rounds things out in style. This is a terrific showing from Tantara. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019. I tasted a wide range of wines from Tantara, including a whopping 12 different Pinots. I can certainly understand the appeal of vinifying small lots of fruit from a large number of top sites in the Central Coast, but it must be a huge challenge to properly supervise the growing of fruit in sites that run from Arroyo Grande to the Santa Lucia Highlands. These 2009 Pinots suggest a little more focus on fewer appellations might not be a bad thing.Tel. (805) 938-5051; Fax (805) 938-0036; tantarawinery.com

This is from Tantara’s 3-acre block at Bien Nacido, and it’s a very good young wine, fresh in citrusy acidity but ripe in cherry essence and cola flavors. Planted only in 1999, it shows a young vine exuberance that limits complexity, but not interest. ——S.H.(12/31/2006)—— 89

With more acidity, tannin, and restraint, the intellectually-styled 2003 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido-Adobe Vineyard does not leap from the glass like several of its siblings. Building incrementally in the mouth, it reveals copious quantities of red currant, plum, tapenade, and raspberry characteristics in its medium-bodied, more austere, impressively endowed personality. Tel. (805) 938-5050