Three Blind Mice -- 2004 Hirsch Pinot Noir Tasting

WindyPinot's Cellar
Tasted Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by windypinot with 686 views

Introduction

Double blind tasting of three 2004 pinot offerings from different producers (Hirsch, Siduri, Williams Selyem) using grapes from the Hirsch Vineyard. Each wine was decanted two hours before tasting. First of a planned monthly tradition involving SchuDog, WindyPinot and taster to be named later.

Flight 1 (3 Notes)

  • 2004 Hirsch Vineyards Pinot Noir 87 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Cloudy, medium red color; light cherry and licorice nose; fat middle, but thin finish; more balance than the Siduri and Williams Selyem version of Pinot from this vintage, but still not enough fruit or depth

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  • 2004 Siduri Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard 84 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Nose has some fruits in it, most noticeably cherry and a bit of cola, some minor floral notes; very hot and short on the finish, with a bit of bandaid and burnt carmel flavor; got a bit better on the second day, but sitll a very disappointing siduri effort.

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  • 2004 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard 87 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Relatively dark red for a pinot and does not have typical cloudy WS look; heavier nose, vanilla, medicinol; could be closed a bit, not much fruit showing; bit of oak and dark cherry, middle depth on the body; finish has a bit of heat, but more balanced than the Siduri '04 Hirsch offering

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Closing

Disappointing wines given pedigree/price, but a very educational night. Looking forward to seeing what we can learn from future blind tastings. SchuDog and WindyPinot are huge Hirsch fans (and long-time WS and Siduri list members), but none of these wines met expectations. Perhaps these wines are getting too old, although the wines seemed to suffer more from a lack of balance than their age. Shocking absence of fruit in all three offerings. Hirsch and Williams Selyem were the winners with two votes for the Williams Selyem and one for the Hirsch, but it was very close between the two. Siduri was a distant third on all three ballots. No expectation that any of these wines will improve with more time in the cellar.

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