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Saturday, March 6, 2021 - For those who share my curiosity for why this wine bears the names of both Mount Eden and Domaine Eden and who may be interested in the winery's history (or rather the wineries' histories), which dates back to Paul Masson in 1878, I cannot improve on John Tillson's 9/3/11 post for The Underground Newsletter, which you can check out at https://www.undergroundwineletter.com/2011/09/mount-eden-vineyards-and-domaine-eden-something-old-and-something-new.

And now to the wine. According to the notes on the bottle (no. 05587), "This Pinot Noir is a mosiac of different selections and clones grown at Domaine Eden: Dijon clones 777, 667 and 828 reside alongside the historic California selections Mount Eden, Calera and Swan. Each parcel is farmed to our strict standards of sustainability, dry farming and low yields. All fermentations were native and include 30% whole cluster. The cool vintage displays the incredible allure of the Pinot grape."

The wine was released in the spring of 2012. The winemaker's notes on release state:

"2010 was a cool year overall in Northern California. The weather allowed us to harvest a moderate crop at a leisurely pace, a full month later than normal. The tricky Pinot Noir does well when it ripens slowly under late September skies. In short, this is a great Pinot Noir vintage.

"With the blessed coolness, each block was fermented and barrel-aged separately, allowing us to learn more about this beautiful property. We farm a wide variety of selections including 828, Calera, Mount Eden, Swan, 667 and 777 from the Pinot vineyards. All of the fermentations were natural, meaning no added yeast or malolactic cultures. The wine ages in French barrels for twelve months and is bottled without any fining for filtration. This is high risk/ high reward winemaking.

"Precise aromas of black raspberry, black cherry and pomegranate combine with a racy texture, generous acidity and flavors of blueberry and earth. If you like Pinot Noir with flavor and backbone, this is your style.

"I am very proud of this offering and it shows me the incredible potential of our new site."

With props to the winery for keeping this info on their website, the tech notes for this wine are:

Yield: 1.7 tons per acre

Harvest: September 21st-27th

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.9° Brix, 3.30 pH, 8.1 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy-1/2 new; aged 12 months in barrel

Bottling: September 2011; no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 13.5%

And with that, here's our review.

PnP without decanting. Color of black raspberry. Cherry and vanilla on nose with some forest floor, loam and mushroom as the wine opens. Medium body. Very soft and smooth mouthfeel. Notes of sweet cherry, tart cherry, raspeberry, plum and cranberry with some brett as the wine breathes. Medium to long finish. Pairs well with a simple dinner of scrambled egg and red pepper. This is the first of four bottles we purchased when the wine was released. It's drinking so well now we might not wait too long to finish the rest.

When he reviewed the wine, Parker recommended to drink between 2012 and 2020, adding that Mount Eden is one of the country's great heritage estates and that their Chardonnays and Pinots have a track record for aging "spectacularly well," which once again proves correct. If this bottle is any indication, Parker might have been a tad conservative in his drinking window.

As an aside, Harry and Meghan bought nine cases of the 2014 vintage of this wine to serve at the reception following their 2018 wedding. I hope they saved some for their cellar.

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