February 12, 2024 - Decanted for 30 minutes. Lots of red cherry, some spice, smooth tannins, medium body. Fairly long finish. Very similar to the 2019.
January 5, 2024 - Really good this year. Savory notes on the finish preceeded by ripe cherry and strawberry. Drink now-2027. Medium-plus acidity.
November 14, 2023 - Great Sonoma Coast Pinot. Medium bodied. Medium plus acidity. Mouthwatering cherry and raspberry. Medium-long finish. Quite good and I liked it more than other years. Definitely needs some air.
September 11, 2023 - Opened a hour or so before dinner (grilled hamburgers) and let sit. Dark red fruit on the nose. The palate is dark cherry, red plums, pipe tobacco and hints of spice. The finish was moderate to long.. We drank a toast to Richie, Alan and Father Mike. Three people I knew that were murdered by ignorant blind hatred 22 years ago. I will never forget and I hope we as a country never forget.
July 7, 2023 - Pnp'd a glass of this one 9 days ago before heading out West on our "CT Summer Tour" meeting up with Decanting Queen and Agelvis in UT and visiting in CO with WineGuyDelMar...I immediately put a RePour stopper into the bottle and left the bottle in the fridge til today. Love that 'pop' when you remove this stopper. Tells me the wine will be exactly where it was when I last left the bottle, with no degradation of the wine. The notes below ARE exactly the same for our first glass 9 days ago and the second half of the bottle today. Hint: I left the wine in the glass for about 45 min to allow it to rise to room temp from its severely chilled state, but also to give the wine a chance to 're-oxidize'. The RePour stopper is so good at removing oxygen from the bottle that it sometimes strips the wine, too. After 45 min, it tasted as if it had just been opened exactly the same as 9 days earlier.
Walala is one of my fav Sojourn Pinots because it's a tad different....generally, more brooding, more dark. All the requisite notes on the nose and palate: Black tea, a little clove, vanilla and red (usually strawberry/raspberry) fruit. There is also a slight herbal note to the Walala. Just a beautiful style of Pinot as all these Sojourn are, for me.....beautiful chalky minerality and perfectly balanced acidity here, too. Borders on a 94 for me.
This was my longest RePour trial to date with a wine and also my first with a Pinot as most of them have been with Cabs up til now. It passed with flying colors!
June 24, 2023 - Demotion for me!
May 25, 2023 - Really tasty Sonoma pinot, on the big side but very much balanced and fresh. More restrained and red fruited than the Gap's Crown or UV Lucky Well from recent releases.
On the nose bunches of roses; brown sugar and wet rock Pinot; black tea; spices; red berries; cherries. As noted above there is a strong sense of freshness here.
Palate largely carries through from the nose; mid body; mid acidity; minus tannins; mid+ alc; mid long finish. Again similar to the nose with a strong sense of freshness. Bit of trapped gas (not referment) at the outset, which dissipated after very vigorous swirling in the glass and giving the remainder of the bottle a good healthy shake.
March 19, 2023 - Delicious wine. Intense, balanced, complex. Fruit and earth, spice. A touch more "old world" in profile when compared to other Sojourn Pinots; the fruit is there, but it's a bit more in balance when compared to the light strawberry style of the Sangiacomo or the darker concentrated fruit of the Gap's Crown.