Community Tasting Note

• edwilley3 Likes this wine: 94 points

  February 1, 2014 - This is another wine where I don't detect all the alcohol of which others complain. Perhaps I am too used to drinking single malts neat as well as Cognac and Armagnac. Anyway, this was a pop and...air, the circumstances not supporting my usual longer decanting. My companion and I drank a chardonnay first while allowing this pinot to air in glass and bottle. On the open it was dense, sweet (not necessarily sugary, but a fruit sweetness), and jammed with cooked fruits among other things. I tried to leave it alone. With another hour and switching to only a mid-sized glass (restaurant's options were poor) the potential of the wine showed. These big Sonoma wines **must** be given time to breathe. If you decant this wine, you should be able to find both that unctuous Turley midpalate (remember who set up the Martinelli program a decade ago) that still manages to seem focused along with a pretty nose, with moderately high intensity and a moderately long finish. This wine started to become broad, rich, and supple, with the fruit and alcohol balancing nicely. On the palate we have a range of black fruits, including some delicious blackberry, with some licorice. This is no cherry bomb and would stand up well to highly seasoned food. If you are not patient enough to decant, I would recommend buying a less intense wine. If you doubt me, I would ask you to try decanting one of these Martinellis (any varietal) for at least 5 hours just once, being sure to taste at the beginning. I drink a variety of wines, but the two rules I follow religiously are: (a) Don't drink whites and Champagnes too cold; and (b) decant all the more intense wines - whether Bordeaux or Super Tuscans or Sonoma - for 3+ hours, and ideally 5 or more, with 8 being helpful on the biggest examples.

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