March 18, 2012 - Red Burgs Plus (Porter Creek, Burnsville): Small pour. Nose shows leather, florals, raspberry, bright, earth. The palate is fresh, bright, black raspberry, cherry, dense, leather and spice. 91+pts.
January 4, 2012 - A bit rustic but not overly so... mildly hard / structured on opening. Reasonably fresh but far from fruity. Traces of cocoa powder, irony earth and dust outline reticent sweet red fruits and dried fruits. Good now with good and better in 5 or so years. Will never be a masterpiece but very much my kind of wine and very enjoyable within context.
November 24, 2010 - Brief decant but it should go longer. On the initial pop it was bright, classic pinot but gave next to nothing on the palate. So I let it sit in the pie-plate decanter for an hour. Flat when revisited over the hour but then it started to blossom, almost 60 minutes later exactly. Raspberries, pencil shavings, lavendar, and rose petals. Delicate on the nose but some tannic grip on the tongue with a hint of green pepper. The lengthy decant and grip tell me this needs more time. Delicious nonetheless.
March 10, 2009 - Martine's Wines Portfolio tasting (MK, Chicago IL): nose: nice darkish profile with meaty tones, bits of leather, red currants, dark spice and bits of black cherries. A bit brooding and rustic, but very pungent right now
taste: good medium/high acidity with a nice lush feel of dark red fruits, black cherries, some leather, dark spices, and red currants
overall: very beaune in style and character with a really nice dark backdrop. Enjoyable while being young, should be able to improve with time, but is extremely enjoyable right now
March 1, 2009 - extremely enjoyable right now
February 28, 2009 - Burgundy Corner (Wine Exchange - Orange, CA): Dark red to the rim with great expression of fruit on the nose including notes of black cherry and raspberry. The pure fruit expression continues on the palate, which offers red fruit flavors, violets, stone undertones, and herbs through the finish. This wine has a nice fruit/stone coupling along with ample acidity and tannins for great overall balance.