{"product_id":"lioco-pinot-noir-saveria-2022","title":"Lioco Pinot Noir Saveria Vineyard 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSaveria sits in a maritime canyon off Pleasant Valley Road near Aptos, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, at the specific line where the Pacific fog stops being a solid blanket and breaks up into patchy sun. That boundary is the entire growing proposition: enough sun to ripen, enough marine cool to slow it down, and a long hang time as a result. The soil is a deep colluvial fan of sand mixed with calcareous marine deposits, material washed down the canyon over millennia, and it drains almost too well. The Pinot Noir here was planted in the late 1990s to clones 115, 667, and 777. The Santa Cruz Mountains have never been a volume region, which is why so few people can name a vineyard in them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Pinot Noir from that single vineyard, made with a portion of whole clusters left in the fermentation, which is what gives the wine its stem-spice lift and a firmer, more savory structure than a fully destemmed version would. This is the Lioco house style applied to red wine: nothing extracted hard, nothing corrected, and no new oak sitting on top of the fruit. 2022 in California was marked by a severe early-September heat event that pushed harvest forward and cut yields, and cool marine sites like this one weathered it better than the valley floors did. The wine runs to red cherry, cranberry, dried rose, orange peel, black tea, and forest floor, light to medium in body with fine tannin, bright acidity, and a long savory close. Coastal Pinot with tension rather than weight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLioco was founded in 2005 by Kevin O'Connor, a sommelier, and Matt Licklider, a wine importer, and the name is a compression of their surnames. The project began as a reaction against what California was doing to Chardonnay at the time, with a stainless-steel, unoaked white that argued the fruit could stand on its own. The same argument runs through the reds: source from cool, marginal, often overlooked sites, pick early enough to keep acidity, and stay out of the way in the cellar. They work with growers rather than owning vineyards, which lets them chase specific parcels across California instead of being stuck with whatever they planted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLight enough to serve cool and structured enough to sit at dinner. Roast chicken with mushrooms and thyme, grilled salmon, duck confit with lentils, or a mushroom tart with gruyère. The tea-leaf and forest-floor character meets earthy cooking directly, and the acidity handles a pan sauce. Fifteen minutes in the fridge before opening will do it a favor.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Craft","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50610364481759,"sku":null,"price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8040027.jpg?v=1785945008","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/lioco-pinot-noir-saveria-2022","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}