Community Tasting Note

whostler wrote:

Monday, September 1, 2003 - Served during our Labor Day party. I was talking to a non-wine geek guest about wine and she expressed an interest in Central Coast wine. Any excuse to pull out a bottle of Pinot, right? I had seen an interesting post on this wine from Joe Davis of Arcadian that indicated it had been made with very ripe fruit that was allowed to hang. It was also made with whole cluster fermentation.
The color was just a little on the darker side but very typical Pinot coloration with translucence and a hint of “dustiness”. Also a very typical Pinot Noir nose. On the palate, again varietally correct with a nice hint of cherry fruit, perhaps sour cherries. No syrah wannabes here! Oak was not really evident one way or the other, which is to the good. Tannins were very resolved and I would say there is no need for further cellaring. There were two things that detracted from my enjoyment. The first was high acidity that was on the edge of going out of balance into shrillness – but didn’t. I’m not a low-acid type; I think it’s needed, but Pinot Noir too often goes in the other direction to over-acidic. The second was a note which I might not have been able to give a name to absent the information I had. I felt there was a stemmy quality and given the whole cluster fermentation that’s not at all surprising. Some chilling and some air time helped to bring both of these elements under better control but did not eliminate them.
Make no mistake; this is very well made wine with excellent Pinot Noir typicity and exhibiting a lot of finesse. Burgundy lovers of a certain style may enjoy this wine very much. It’s just not pushing my personal hot buttons.

Post a Comment / View whostler's profile
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue (2,576 views)