2021 Stolo Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Creekside Estate San Luis Obispo Coast 750 ml

The 2021 Stolo Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Creekside Estate boasts 95 points from the tough-grading Wine Advocate, but comes at a fraction of the price. So what’s the catch? 

There is none. But winemaker Rajat Parr’s highest-profile wines tend to come from high-profile regions—we’re thinking of Domaine de la Côte in the world-famous Sta. Rita Hills or Evening Land in Oregon’s Willamette Valley—and Stolo hails from an area that isn’t oozing with Pinot Noir cachet. Yet. 

The Stolo estate is located in Cambria, California, in San Luis Obispo county (and the SLO Coast AVA), sitting just three miles from the ocean. In addition to a barn and farmhouse that date back to the late 1800s, Stolo boasts a nine-acre vineyard, three acres of which are planted with Pinot Noir from the Rochioli clone. Pinotphiles likely know the Rochioli name from the world-famous Sonoma County winery, and Stolo dry farms their vines, then ferments the wine on the stems in large neutral wood for eight days before pressing. The 2021 then spent 11 months in French barriques, 20% of them new. 

Raj Parr, who spent his childhood in Calcutta, India, is the Director of Farming, Winemaker, and Owner of Stolo Family Vineyard. After learning alongside legendary somm Larry Stone, he made his name as Michael Mina’s sommelier-to-the-stars, then as the winemaker at the perennially high-scoring Sandhi estate. Now he’s a legitimate winemaking star, as his Domaine de la Côte winery now stands as one of the icons of California Pinot. 

Parr brought the formidable talent and know-how that established his most famous brands to Stolo. It shows.