4/10/2019 - rickspicks wrote:

Big and almost lush - especially for a Patti Green pinot. Great depth and richness with a full body, good structure and round edges. Not as lean as I normally get from PG pinots, but with very nice balance. Drinking great right now. 91-92

12/26/2018 - RDHudak wrote:

This bottle was great! Loads of dark fruit, tobacco and some earthiness. Balanced tannin and acid, with a medium ++ finish. The cork looked perfect and I'm telling ya, if someone masked this as a second growth, no one would question it. This bottle got better with air and seemed to be drinking perfectly with 2 hours, with no decline. The perfect cork which was high quality added to the experience. 91-93, yeah, really.

5/25/2017 - King Cab wrote:

A note with a story attached. I am having a bit of fun, so I will apologize in advance. ps-spell checker & grammar police stay clear.

I have been on a tear lately for all things nebbiolo (having just returned from Italy--another story, another day) and happened into a local store with an reputation for an ok internet sales minded/bargain basement selection of wines (ie: cheap). You know the type, with the metal upright shelves, boxes of $5 swill stacked in the middle of the aisle and a totally unknowledgeable wine staff and with no rhyme or reason to assortment or order. All I wanted was a nebbiolo for tonight's dinner; I wanted an adventure with a mysterious end and I wanted a Barbaresco (preferably) or Langhe Nebbiolo, and I wanted it cheap but they had one of the former and none of the later so after I go outside to check my phone for the reviews on that singular Barbaresco since I swear to you the store blocks all data usage like a Junior High School auditorium so you won't/can't do such a thing and I see it's rated just average but more importantly the note was ho-hum. I did not want ho-hum, I wanted to explore the 'above' average tonight, I wanted to be semi-wowed. Going back in I did notice some Baroli in the $20-$24 range which is fascinating to me since I always believed you get what you pay for and how much love could a $21 unfamiliar/no big name attachment Barolo actually deliver? I mean sure, I did pay 6.50 Euros for a decent quaffable half bottle before, but that was Rome. After some hemming and hawing I see one that has a vintage listed as 2008 and the word Riserva. OK, I'll play. $22 and lets see where we go. What's the downside?. Fast-forward to home, I make a pizza and pop this cork and pour some into my oft-used pinot noir glass. Interesting color of burnt umber with a very pretty core. I bring to my nose and I get some roses, tar and dried cherries. Hmm, quite nice. The palate shows a nice density with the wonderful cherries, now blasting through mixed with some dried herbs, tar, lead pencil and cellar floor. OK, I can live with a little cellar floor if it's just a bit and all else around it showing well. A very admirable acidity that showed very well with my pizza (da!) and a fully resolved tannic structure. This got better as the hour (or two) went on as I sat 'al di fuori' on my back deck and it all remained in place with the last two glasses the next day. I went back for more and I think I did ok, oh, and most importantly I had FUN doing it, just like I would have 25 years ago before mailing lists or the internet and well before my hyper-bravado'd and over-philosophized place in the geeky world of wine.
I remember a great Italian dude once said to me when I visited his little Enoteca on some small back-street in Rome as I asked for a 'Bicchiere di Barolo' on a Sunday morning: 'In this country, we drink Barolo for special occasions only!' It was almost a reprimand but I took it well and proceeded to let him guide my late morning of 'lesser' wines that the Italians drink daily, and I had an awesome time. I chuckle about it now and ask myself: Isn't Wednesday a special occasion?'

How was your day?

11/26/2016 - mrmikemtr Likes this wine:

Smooth. QPR not so much. Barnyard nose. Def a merlot-y mouth feel. Smoothness for sure. A 90 but not well-earned. Better efforts out there. This is overpriced.

8/15/2016 - bobadopolis Does not like this wine:

There is a sweetness to this wine that I don't care for at all. Not sure what the residual sugar is, but seems high. Otherwise wine is dark and brooding, with deep almost rotten plum notes, and a thick, dense mouthfeel. Can't get over the recurring impression that this is more reminiscent of a concentrated kids drink (like dehydrated Welch's grape soda) than a fine wine. To me this was borderline undrinkable. Gave it an 80 because others at the table were not as offended by it as I was. Maybe there was something off with this bottle, but didn't really seem flawed, just not good.

11/10/2015 - rickspicks wrote:

The bottle variation on this wine has been huge in spite of them all being from a single case I purchased in 2010 and stored in a temp controlled cellar. Unlike many prior bottles, this was terrific. Dark berry/cherry fruits, spice, bramble, earth and mushrooms with a lean, silky texture, nice depth and a lingering finish. Nice balance and a good, firm grip. Very much a classic Oregon pinot in style, and a very welcome surprise.

9/4/2015 - rickspicks wrote:

Incredible concentration, intensity and fruit, but without any elegance or sophistication. I don't like to denegrate other tasters notes, but this is simply an overblown fruit-bomb. Massively rich and ripe with all the complexity of a Luden's cherry cough drop. The tasters who scored this in the mid-90's+ apparently have very little appreciation of anything other than massive fruit. Winemaker should be hanged in effigy ... or worse.

4/8/2015 - rickspicks wrote:

I have enjoyed many bottles and vintages of St. Innocent Seven Springs - it was one of my favorite wines, so I was hopeful that this would also be very good. I was wrong, very wrong. This was green, tart, thin and generally without charm or character., even after 2+ hours of airtime. I know 2011 was not a great vintage, but I expected better - much better. I paid less than $20 for this wine ... and I paid too much. Worst Oregon pinot I have ever had. Evening Land should be embarrassed to have their name on this wine.

10/14/2014 - rickspicks wrote:

I purchased this wine because I loved the 2005, but could not find any more. This is good, but not quite as good as the 2005. Blueberry along with raspberry, spice and earth with green vegetable and oak in the background. Lush, rich, ripe and dense with a creamy, thick texture and nice finish. Fruit-driven but with just enough structure to keep the fruit in balance. 89+

5/14/2013 - rickspicks wrote:

WOW! Deep, rich, ripe fruit aromas of cassis, blackberry, oak, spice and earth - somewhat bordeaux-like in complexity and depth - but with Napa intensity. Medium to full bodied with tremendous concentration and depth, and a super-rich texture. Massive fruits are balanced with an equally big structure of firm, smooth tannins and a big dose of acidity. Still extraordinarily youthful with intense fruit flavors that are still mostly primary. Long, rich, delicious, satisfying finish. This is an incredibly powerful wine that is still extremely youthful and a spectacular example of how great a Napa cab can be. Plenty of fruit and stuffing to last another 20-30 + years. This is going to be even more spectacular and a 98-100 point wine with some more time. 96+ for now.