2006 Inman Family Pinot Noir OGV Estate

Community Tasting Notes (62) Avg Score: 90.1 points

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  3/13/2024 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine: 96 Points

  This is now the oldest Inman pinot noir I've ever had and somehow the one I've had most often, too. I hadn't realized I had three other notes on it until going in to enter this one. Everything I wrote in all of those notes is still true, especially the part about the cola thing, except that the fruit has turned blacker and less, well, fruity. The texture is still supple and satiny like what I imagine Fourrier would make if they made a California wine. It's now heavy on the botanicals and spice with a slight but extremely pleasant edge of bitterness to it, and that cola thing.
  
  So, about that. Russian River pinot noirs are famously said to taste of cola and I always had a little chortle at that because if you make purposely sweetened pinot noir in industrial quantities (as many Cali producers do) then of *course* it's going to taste more than a little like Cherry Coke. But Inman's pinot noirs are the exact opposite of this and dammit if it's not weirdly evocative of cola flavorings but without the sweet syrup, as if we are tasting a deconstruction of Pemberton's original recipe straight from the apothecary's table.
  
  Perfectly preserved and developed under screwcap for 16 or 17 years and counting, for any doubters out there.

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  10/19/2018 - ProperClaret Does not like this wine:

  Ruby-colored water. Eight to ten years too old.

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  10/1/2018 - ProperClaret Does not like this wine:

  Tired and stemmy.

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  8/3/2016 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine: 93 Points

  This has been a beautiful bottle of pinot noir every time I've had it, and developing very gracefully too. It's now more or less indistinguishable from a red Burgundy though it's still a bit brighter and more floral than a Burgundy of the same age would be. It's basically shed all of its baby fat while retaining all of its vibrancy - the result is that this is fresh and youthful without being primary.

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  3/6/2015 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine:

  Another beautiful bottle of this getting somewhat more tertiary than my last one and still in an exceptionally drinkable state even though the pure pinot fruit is starting to give way to other elements. The main thing I'm noticing here, and not for the first time, is that this might be the only RRV pinot I've ever had that makes me think that the famous "cola" note is actually part of the terroir here and not just a sign of overripe grapes and tutti-fruitiness. That's because it shows up here in a very *unsweetened* form as if it's the flavor of actual cola (okay, kola) nuts. Beyond that it's really the texture that makes this so compelling to drink. It's still pampering with a feminine slenderness and I can't think of a single other California producer that can pull this off.

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