June 10, 2012 - Meh. Fine, but nothing all that interesting. Nice aroma - some funk as well as some floral notes. Cherries on the palate, but quite astringent on the finish. Not much here really. Oxidized? Screw top, so seems unlikely. Victim of poor storage in the PLCB system? Likely. Over the hill? Perhaps. Anyway, not bad, but not worth even the $22 sale price.
April 13, 2011 - Ripe cherry, caramel, toasted herb, meaty nose. Tart raspberry, mineral, vanilla, earthy spice palate. Moderate acid. Fine tannins. New World-ish.
July 26, 2010 - Deep ruby, pinot nose with ample ripe fruit. Tasted blind and I guessed it was from Burgundy from a hot year because of its fruit. Nice supple mouth with good finish. Very good and enjoyable Pinot!!
July 26, 2010 - We tasted this during a blind tasting over dinner with friends where each one of us brought his own bottle. This was my bottle, and the one that caused more confusion than any other. Though it was easily identified as a Pinot Noir, no one could figure out its place of origin. Most thought New Zealand. My friend Lazarus said that it had an unusual combination of overripe and fresh fruit...well he was damn right since this has almost 10% merlot which combined with Pinot Noir gives this impression of late picking character, whle the rest 90% gives freshness to an extent that would be unusual with a wine made entirely of late picked fruit. Anyway...
Dark ruby. Red berries, cherries, nicely integrated oak. Mid-bodied with nice balance and soft tanins. Fairly long finish. Very enjoyable now but with life ahead. Fairly priced for a pinot noir of this level.
February 21, 2010 - It has a distinctive Pinot Noir character, and it is reasonably ripe -- it does have a touch of green, but it seems to add to the character instead of becoming a real flaw. It has a generous cherry component and many secondary aromatics. But it lacks balance. It is cool and restrained, like a Burgundy, and fruity like a new world Pinot Noir, but it probably oscillates too much between those two characters. Interesting, but not outstanding.
February 15, 2010 - Extremely disappointing. The smell is dominated by oak. Somewhat fruity taste, but lacks the subtle spice that I was hoping for. After four days less oak is noticable, and it is now more fresh and fruity. Three days later all of the oak is absorbed, and it leaves for the more typical cherry and classical pinot noir aromas, also some truffle and earth tones are starting to appear. The taste is somewhat burnt/scorched (?), a very acidic and bitter finish.
Interesting wine, but could it be just an off bottle? No obvious flaws as I could detect.
January 28, 2010 - I just really liked this wine. While I wish it was closer to $20 than the $30 it cost, I found it to be one of those bottles that tasted nice on opening and got better as the night went on. Earth and cherries on the nose followed through to a nicely balanced taste on the palate with modest tannins and finish.
January 23, 2010 - This wine has improved since my previous note. Fleshier, with excellent tanins and balancing acidity. Can shame many kiwi P.N.'s or even Burgundies costing double its price. Best Pinot Noir at around € 20 that I have ever tasted. 91-92.
January 19, 2010 - Waterford Italian Adriatic Coast Staff Training (Waterford Wine Co.): N. A little green, a little bacon over pretty fruit. Starts picking up a bit of leather. Takes on a little soy-tossed veggies.
P. Mirrors nose but with lovely cherry predominant.
January 19, 2010 - Journey through the Adriatic (Waterford Wine Co., Milwaukee): 375ml. Boysenberry concentrate. light green chili component with crushed rocks on the nose. pepper, white pepper. grassy sweet across the palate and nice guts overall.