Rombauer Pinot Noir Red Wine

And the grape is Pinot Noir, a thin-skinned red that makes still wine and, in many traditional-method sparkling wines, serves as one of the main grapes. Regional category guides reach for red cherry, berry and plum, and place it lighter in color and softer in tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon, adding that site and ripeness can move it from bright and delicate toward darker and fuller. If you are weighing it in the aisle, that lighter, softer-tannin side of a Cabernet is where the guides put this grape, and across the stores we checked in September 2026 the low came to $53.99.

Rombauer Vineyards says Koerner and Joan Rombauer founded the winery in 1980. The current producer page confirms this bottle's region as Santa Lucia Highlands, in Monterey County. The high we saw in the same September 2026 checks was $78.99. We do not have a shopper rating for this wine; among those we have rated, the middle score is 4.71.

Five named vineyards anchor that Santa Lucia Highlands story on the producer's page for the 2023 vintage: Sierra Mar, Garys', Rosella's, Lemoravo and Soberanes, all in Monterey County, in an AVA the page describes as warm California sunshine tempered by cool air off Monterey Bay. The producer's tasting note calls the wine “rich and silky, with vibrant red fruit flavors, subtle notes of earthiness, and warm spice,” and critic Jeb Dunnuck scored it 92 to 94 points, describing “red cherries, mulberries, Asian spice” in a wine with “silky, seamless texture.” The page does not list alcohol, acidity or aging figures, and the winery's own history marks this as its first Pinot Noir program, launched with the 2023 vintage.

Our call: a fit for a shopper drawn to a specific vineyard story, five named Monterey County sites, a 92-to-94-point score from critic Jeb Dunnuck, and a young program the winery is still building around Santa Lucia Highlands fruit. Pass if you want the producer's own numbers on alcohol or aging before buying at this price; those figures are not published on the current page, and no shopper rating has reached our record yet.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.