It's not surprising that upon hearing the words "Pinot Noir," the first thing that springs to mind is red wine. Then maybe you begin reciting the soliloquy praising the variety in "Sideways," delighting your friends who are waiting for you to diss Merlot. But let's move past such conventional thinking and ponder the El Lugar Pinot Noir Blanc, an outlier in what might be considered traditional and expected (ie: normal) on the pinot noir spectrum.

Pinot Noir Blanc begins its life just as any Pinot Noir grape might, born and raised in the heart of Edna Valley at the Greengate Ranch Vineyard. The grapes are red, and after harvest are immediately trucked the mile or two back to the winery. Normally, winemaker Coby Parker-Garcia would crush them and let them soak on the skins to pick up color and tannic presence like all the other Pinot Noir out there. But to turn red grapes into white wine, these grapes are pressed off their skins right away, and fermentation is transacted sans skin. The result is a quite refreshing Pinot Noir Blanc that is aromatically complex (melon and citrus) with a hint of an edge on the palate that balances out an enjoyably lush creaminess. It’s so good you might begin to wonder why anyone bothers making Pinot the old-fashioned way (y’know, like red), but the wine world is a big world, and there’s plenty of room for all sorts of new ideas. This happens to be one that works.