Lucia Pinot Noir: sorry but not my cup of tea

Choosing a wine in a restaurant that is good and affordable at the same time is becoming, I think, more and more challenging. The other day, I was struggling to find a reasonably priced Pinot Noir and I asked the waiter about a wine that had a Sleepy Hollow Vineyard designation and sounded interesting. He seemed to ignore my question and came back with what I guess is one of the restaurant's best selling wines, a Pinot Noir from Lucia Vineyards.

The Lucia Vineyards winery is owned by the Pisoni family and produces wines from the renowned Garys' and Pisoni Vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The wine that the waiter poured had a dark color and a nose of vanilla and black cherry. The palate was very rich and unctuous with toasted oak and more vanilla flavors on the finish. I couldn't really say that the wine was bad although I found it overpowering but my friends were all happy with the waiter's choice and we kept the wine. However, was this wine the Pinot that I was looking for? Certainly not.

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