2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Mt. Eden Clone El Jabali Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 91 points

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  6/3/2011 - DaveZack wrote: 91 Points

  Got this bottle from the winery's tasting room for $43 and drank with our (often) usual Friday night dinner (salmon, veggies, and a starch (rice pilaf)).
  When we bought this bottle in September, 2009, I remember this wine being EXTREMELY earthy. Over the last (almost) couple of years, this wine has beautifully developed and evolved.
  The bouquet is fantastic, beautifully well-balanced and full of berries, earth, oak, spice, and flowers (usually one or two elements dominate a wine's bouquet; this wine has an almost-perfect nose where any/all elements are perfectly represented in equal parts).
  Up front, the tart red and black fruits are most noticable, including sour cherries, raspberries, and (fairly unusal for a Santa Rita Hills Pinot), plums and blackberries. Again, this wine struck me as being UNBELIEVABLY earthy two years ago, and there certainly is an essence of terrior remaining, but the wine's earthiness has nicely subsided and has become a typical element of a quality Pinot. There's also a nice spiciness present, including white and black pepper, along with a cupboard-full of savory herbs like rosemary. This wine has a wonderful acidic structure that should allow this wine to continue to mature and evolve for another 10+ years. There's also a dollop of oak, along with a nicely-tannic finish. A lot of Pinots from the SRHs are light-bodied and very Burgundy-like but this Pinot is more in the style of Northern California (meaning it's fairly heavy, rich, and creamy) (which is NOT at all a bad thing when done well!).
  We absolutely LOVE Pinots from the SRHs. The terrior, along with the cool Pacific ocean influences, is IDEAL for Pinnot and Chardonnay. We have yet to taste life-altering Chardonnays from the SRHs, but we've tasted several incredible Pinots from the SRHs. This Pinot from Alma Rosa is just one more example that world-class New World Pinot can be made on the Central Coast. This Pinot gives Melville (another one of our favorite SRH Pinot producers) a run for their money!

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  5/23/2011 - JPH104 wrote: 91 Points

  beautiful lighter styled pinot. floral nose. palate driven by big, drying tannins. nice sweet fruit shows through as well. solid finish, with a cool iron/metallic note- almost spatburgunder-like. very enjoyable.

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