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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.5 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 52 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Ddm12 on 5/13/2024 & rated 90 points: Went well with a spiral ham, definitely not a Oregon or burgundy style Pinot (275 views) | | | Tasted by CourtlyDoc on 5/10/2024 flawed bottle: Smooth full body and mouthfeel, boysenberry and light woodsyness on nose, completely delicious. (225 views) | | | Tasted by Metalhorns on 4/13/2024 & rated 86 points: It kind of feels wrong to be enjoying such a boldly bastardized iteration of an otherwise delicate, bright and poetic variety this much. Am I just another spectator in the plebeian grandstand after all? Am I just another unwitting round of cannon fodder for the cruel mechanations of our materialistic world? Are my thoughts my own? Should I even care? Belle Glos says, "do not fret, my simple-minded friend" before pouring another glass of their fat-fingered Pinot Noir into my glass, "just try to enjoy yourself, and don't overthink it."
I sit back and start taking notes anyways. An odd suggestion of root beer and cola drape the set in ambient light before the fruit-forward characters come on. Blackberry pie and dried cherry enter stage left and walk to the front while caramel, cedar, vanilla, christmas spices, strawberry jam and chocolate covered blueberries assemble around. Dark fruits antagonize the expectation of a delicate and bright affair, trading silk drapes for a heavy textile and deeper shade cast onto the palate. A nigh medium-plus body takes hold, tip-toeing on a velvety and particularly enveloping mouthfeel. What kind if pinot noir is this? It's certainly not shy to flash some welcome richness, yet the lack of humility and abundance of residual sugars posit a difficult grappling for those particularly inclined towards the traditional throes of what this grape represents in the broader world of red wine. The smooth finish is there, sure, but what else? This isn't really a pinot noir is it? Too big. Too boisterous. Too this. Too that.
It is a pinot noir though, apparently, and much to the purist's chagrin. It is perhaps by technicality only, because it really does play all-elbows like the jammy Cali cabs and regional fruitbombs of the area much more than it does how a pinot noir ought to play - with délicatesse and playful wisdom. Whatever. As annoying as this wine's existence is, it plays a role that many desire, and who are we to scoff? If its good, its good. (422 views) | | | Tasted by pikemasterflash on 4/7/2024 & rated 92 points: Very good bottle tonight--much better than what I was expecting. This wine was dark crimson read, not the typical lighter PN color. It was sweet and viscous, buy not syrupy. I would buy this again. I would put this up there with the Three Sticks PNs. (495 views) | | | Tasted by TomNichols on 3/16/2024 & rated 94 points: With greatest respects, I suggest you are grossly underrating this wine.
Granted I have tasted only one young DRC RC. A 1966
at the Warwick Club in Houston in 1969.
Still, I humbly suggest, this Pinot is definitely not too dark, and has years to go.
Please do not be fooled by the bargain price, as compared with DRC RC.
Tom
Houston (699 views) | | | Tasted by 1kuhlman on 1/24/2024 & rated 85 points: Beautiful font on the label and nice wax seal over the cork are the only things going for this bottle of wine. The inside contents are another story. It's a pass for me. (1056 views) | | | Tasted by S-E on 1/16/2024 & rated 93 points: Loved this btl, great Pinot, more full body than a frnch. (1017 views) | | | Tasted by whudock on 12/25/2023: not as muscular as the other single vineyard offerings, but still solid in all dimensions. (1097 views) | | | Tasted by CourtlyDoc on 12/11/2023 & rated 94 points: Nose - dark berries, hint of smokiness.
Palate - smoky, full body, smooth, jammy, slightly tart, delicious with meatballs and pasta (1334 views) | | | Tasted by wcf1946 on 10/24/2023 & rated 84 points: A great crowd pleaser, but not a well made PN. Bad QPR. I'm glad it was a gift. I would never buy. Jammy, sweet, very limited tannins and finish, one dimensional, will not improve beyond pop n'pour on day 1. It is, however, pleasant to drink because of jamminess and smoothness. Everybody loves a touch of sweet, but it's not a serious wine. (1888 views) | | | Tasted by rmcnees on 8/1/2023 & rated 91 points: Drank at Beach Walk Cafe, Henderson Beach Inn, Destin, FL.
Dark ruby colored, medium to full bodied, smooth and polished with nicely integrated full flavors of black raspberry, with hints of blueberry, subtle strawberry and cherry. There are tones of cinnamon, spice, sweet oak and tea on a lively acidity long finish with supple tannins.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/07/belle-glos-clark-telephone-pinot-noir.html (2415 views) | | | Tasted by schicker-not on 5/29/2023 & rated 85 points: Jammy PNP. Not enough tannins to age. Short on acid, as well. It’s a small step up from Meiomi. I would say that if you like soft and fruity, then this is your Pinot. (2790 views) | | | Tasted by gmac10 on 5/14/2023 & rated 82 points: Had it before and after aeration and I MUCH preferred it after aeration. Nice berries upfront and a bite on the end. (2426 views) | | | Tasted by WineBurrowingWombat on 5/6/2023: Blind Santa Barbara pinot tasting (FermentedBeast's Lair): N: Rich red fruit, bathroom fresheners (not my note but it's there), mothball notes (mine and it's definitely there).
P: Similar rich red fruits but with some cloying manipulation. Fun and even has a bit of depth but it doesn't seem real.
I see why some people like it and some people hate it. Gonna take the PC stand here and say I'm somewhere in the middle :P (2903 views) | | | Tasted by PME-TC on 4/29/2023: Jammy, tart juice, sweet. Very dark purple color. Does not exemplify pinot noir. (1103 views) | | | Tasted by GARDEN on 4/29/2023 & rated 91 points: Had with pork chops... My wife, who I refer to as the "Cab Girl", considers Belle Glos her favorite pinot noir winery. (1838 views) | | | Tasted by Zinlady on 4/8/2023 & rated 90 points: Very dark juicy Pinot Noir nice nose. Went well with a filet. (977 views) | | | Tasted by wino121 on 3/30/2023 & rated 80 points: Unfortunately this wine doesn’t resemble a Pinot in color, smell, or taste..think cheap Syrah more like.
To get this type of extraction from any Pinot grape is a crime, hard to imagine and do!
Leave it to Wagner to ruin another beautiful grape.
Over priced swill. (944 views) | | | Tasted by The Drunken Cyclist on 3/11/2023 & rated 91 points: Retail $55. Heavy bottle. We went to another of our favorite restaurants here in Houston, where this is on the list for $43. all cards on the table, I am not a fan of the Wagner Family wines, but Belle Glos is an exception. Sure, it is a big, fruity, big Pinot (yes, I realized I said "big" twice), but what else would one expect from the Wagners? Similar notes.
www.thedrunkencyclist.com (1341 views) | | | Tasted by tmiusa on 2/27/2023 & rated 93 points: Delicious! So approachable, a crowd pleaser. Seems to be the best appellation of the Belle Glos 2021. (1171 views) | | | Tasted by Fml on 2/21/2023 & rated 91 points: Very very good smooth grteat fruit , no aftertaste we like it (1067 views) | | | Tasted by The Drunken Cyclist on 2/1/2023 & rated 91 points: Retail $55. Heavy bottle. I was flying solo as my wife had orchestra rehearsal and my son was knee deep in Xbox, er, homework. So I went to what has become our favorite restaurant. It was thus based on two points: 1. The food is pretty good even though the menu rarely (never?) changes. 2. The wine list is solid and the prices, at least for a few of the items on the list, were extremely well priced. Well, tonight, I realized that many of the wines had been increased by about 25%. Oh well. In the end, I decided on this Pinot from the Wagner family. As one might expect from the producers, this is a big boy with dark fruit, even on the verge of brooding, considerable weight, but also enough acidity to try to make it work. Look, if you like "earthy" and terroir driven Pinots, this ain't it, but if you want a full-throttle wine that might challenge your conception of "Pinot Noir", this fits the bill.
www.thedrunkencyclist.com (1397 views) | | | Tasted by Smksmk on 1/5/2023 & rated 92 points: Excellent. Red fruits including cherry, cranberry and raspberry jam. Spicy clove, cedar, baking spice, tobacco and subtle graphite. Rich texture, excellent and complex balanced structure. (1151 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Belle Glos Producer Website
The vineyard locations can all be described as coastal, but the climate differences are significant, depending on the amount of fog, wind, sunlight, and soil type at each site.
Each wine is crafted to distill the purest essence of the vineyard into elegant expressions of California Pinot Noir.
Winemaker Joseph Wagner chose the name Belle Glos (pronounced BELL GLOSS) to honor his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner, a co-founder of Caymus Vineyards.
http://www.meiomiwines.com/'> Producer website
Meiomi, (pronounced May-oh-mee) , has a separate website.
Prince of Pinot Article on Belle Glos
Belle Glos: Caymus Genes
Belle Glos (pronounced BELL GLOS) is owned by the Wagner family of Napa Valley Caymus Vineyards fame. Caymus Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Mer Soleil Chardonnay, and Caymus Conundrum are well know wines, but the winery has a long history with Pinot Noir, producing some excellent examples from relatively warm locations of the Napa Valley (Rutherford) in the late 1970s and 1980s. They even produced a Pinot Noir Blanc wine labeled “Eye of Partridge.”
The Pinot Noir program was revived in 2001 with the release of Belle Glos Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir and the wines have improved every year since. The name comes from Charles J. (Chuck) Wagner’s mother, Loma Belle Glos Wagner, a co-founder of Caymus Vineyards. Joseph Wagner, a fourth generation winemaker whose family’s roots in the Napa Valley date to 1906, has been the label’s vineyardist and winemaker since 2002. Belle Glos is a separate label from Caymus Vineyards, much like Mer Soleil and Conundrum, made independently from wines Chuck Wagner makes at Caymus Vineyards, referred to as “by the Wagner Family” rather than “by Caymus”, but distributed by Caymus Vineyards.
Caymus farms Pinot Noir in three coastal regions including the Sonoma Coast, Santa Maria Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands and produces vineyard-designated Pinot Noir from the estate vineyards in each region. A fourth Pinot Noir, Meiomi, is a value-priced wine found in wide distribution and restaurants. A distinctive and excellent rosé, is also produced that revives the name, “Oeil De Perdrix,” sourced from the Yorkville Highlands of Mendocino County. The Gambit Series of Pinot Noirs debuted in 2008 at Pinot Days San Francisco. These limited production single-vineyard wines with no added sulfur were intended to offer the rich and voluptuous nature of raw Pinot Noir grapes. I have not seen or heard of these wines since, but they are briefly described on the Belle Glos website.
Caymus acquired a portion of the historic Santa Maria Hills Vineyard in the 1990s. The land, on a west-facing slope of the Santa Maria Valley foothills, had been planted to Pinot Noir from 1972 to 1974, so the vines were almost ancient by California Pinot Noir standards. The vines were own rooted and the clone uncertain, but probably Martini, an heirloom clone that was one of the first Pinot Noir selections to grace California coast lands. I first reviewed the 2001 Belle Glos Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir in the July 7, 2003 issue of the PinotFile, and the wine was generally well received by the wine press. At the time, little was known of the label. Bob Hosmon of the Miami Sun Sentinel wrote, “To say that this is one of the best United States produced Pinot Noirs I’ve ever tasted is not an overstatement... if you’re looking for something truly special, you won’t be disappointed. Unfortunately no website, mail, e-mail or phone orders.” The website is still very basic and offers no opportunity to purchase the wines. With the 2002 vintage, winemakers Joseph Wagner and Jon Bolta (Conundrum) took what was already a low-yielding 76-acre vineyard and reduced the crop even more radically by regular thinning to increase the flavor concentration of the berries. When the grapes were hand harvested, they ended up with just over one ton per acre. The quality was so high and the flavors so distinctive they felt the wine deserved to be named for the vineyard that produced it which was located at the intersection of Clark & Telephone roads.
The 10-acre Sonoma Coast Taylor Lane Vineyard was planted near the town of Occidental in 1995. While Joseph Wagner was in middle school he helped develop this vineyard, clearing trees and rocks from this previously unplanted land, and laying out and planting the vine rows. To get the grapes to ripen in this cool seaside climate, the trellis system was converted to “Trentina,” named after the region in Italy where it originated, which maximizes sun exposure on the leaves. There is a very consistent diurnal temperature variation at this vineyard site which insures a good balance between ripeness and acidity. The first Belle Glos Taylor Lane Vineyard Pinot Noir was in 2002.
The Las Alturas Vineyard is located in one of the highest plantable sites in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, at altitudes of 540 to 1,210 feet. The site has warmer afternoons and tamer winds than the northern portion of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. This 15-acre vineyard was planted to match various Pinot Noir Dijon clones to different soils and slopes of the vineyard. Yields are kept deliberately low. The inaugural vintage from this vineyard was 2004.Pinot Noir Varietal character (Appellation America) | Varietal article (Wikipedia)
Pinot Noir is the Noble red grape of Burgundy, capable of ripening in a cooler climate, which Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot will not reliably do. It is unpredictable and difficult both to grow and to vinify, but results in some of the finest reds in the world. It is believed to have been selected from wild vines two thousand years ago. It is also used in the production of champagne. In fact, more Pinot Noir goes into Champagne than is used in all of the Cote d'Or! It is also grown in Alsace, Jura, Germany, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, and so forth, with varying degrees of success.
Pinot Noir is one of the world's most prestigious grapes. It is very difficult to grow and thrives well in France, especially in Champagne and Burgundy. Pinot Noir thrives less in hot areas, is picky on soil, and deserves some oak storage.
Pinot Noir, or Blauburgunder / Spätburgunder in German, is a blue grapevine - and, as the German name suggests, the grape comes originally from Burgundy in France.
The grape, which thrives in calcareous soils, is used primarily for the production of red wine, and it is widely regarded as producing some of the best wines in the world. The wine style is often medium-bodied with high fruit acidity and soft tannins. It can be quite peculiar in fragrance and taste, and not least in structure - which may be why it is referred to as "The Grapes Ballerina".
Pinot Noir is also an important ingredient in sparkling wines, not least in champagne since it is fruity, has good acidity and contains relatively little tannins.
The grape is considered quite demanding to grow. The class itself consists of tightly packed grapes, which makes it more sensitive to rot and other diseases.
Pinot Noir changes quite easily and is genetically unstable. It buds and matures early which results in it often being well ripened. Climate is important for this type of grape. It likes best in cool climates - in warm climates the wines can be relaxed and slightly pickled.
In cooler climates, the wine can get a hint of cabbage and wet leaves, while in slightly warmer regions we often find notes of red berries (cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants), roses and slightly green notes when the wine is young. With age, more complex aromas of forest floor, fungi and meat emerge.
In Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, it often produces light wines with less character. However, it has produced very good results in California, Oregon and New Zealand.
With its soft tannins and delicate aroma, it is excellent for white fish, chicken and light meat. For the stored wines you can serve small game. Classic duck breast is a matter of course, a Boeuf Burgundy and Pinot Noir are pure happiness.
Pinot Noir loses quality by over-harvesting.
Pinot Noir is prone to diseases, especially rot and mildew. Viruses cause major problems especially in Burgundy.
Pinot Noir are large round grapes with thin skins. Relatively high in alcohol content. Medium rich tannins and good with acid.
As a young person, Pinot Noir has a distinctly fruity character such as raspberries, cherries and strawberries.
A mature Pinot Noir, the taste is different. Cherry goes into plum and prune flavors. It smells of rotten leaves, coffee, moist forest floor and animal wine. This must be experienced.
In warm climates you find boiled plum, some rustic, little acid.
If the grapes are over-grown, the wine will be thin, with little color and flavor.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Central Coasthttp://www.ccwinegrowers.org/links.html
http://www.discovercaliforniawines.com/regional-wine-organizations/
http://beveragetradenetwork.com/en/btn-academy/list-of-winegrowers-association-in-central-coast-california-274.htm
Central Coast AVA WikipediaSanta Maria Valley Santa Maria Valley Wine Country Association | Santa Maria Valley Wine Trail |
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