July 9, 2021 - Fragrant raspberry aroma. Rich, slightly sweet flavors of cherry, earth. Mineral notes in the finish. Very New World California style but missing the dreaded Cherry Cola flavor.
Drinking well, no sign of decline.
January 3, 2020 - Blind Jan 3rd (Wu's Wonton King): Served blind and this one hell of a ringer. I have had bottle variation with this wine, so was pleasantly surprised this was showing clean as a whistle. Very deep, lurid, old world notes. The 2009 has put on serious weight and even tastes a touch older that a 2009.Not your typical pinot, has more in common with a fine nebbiolo or a south rhone wine done in a feminine way. All that said, very wild notes of cherries, field herbs, mushroms, pine needles and earth.
January 20, 2018 - Very nature wine in colour and by the nose. After two hours airing it was still not showing anything but grape juice. Most likely a bad bottle..
October 5, 2016 - a little dirty, but not so much as I couldn't enjoy a wonderful full bodied yet balanced expression fo new world pinot that def leans towards old world.
August 23, 2015 - I opened this bottle, the first Clos Saron wine for me, expecting to find anything from Grand Cru Burgundy lookalike to bacteriological horror show. Didn't get the former, but we definitely didn't get the latter either. I'm sure there's a lot of bottle variation at play from following online commentary here and elsewhere, but while our bottle showed a significant amount of spritz the wine itself was reasonably clear and fruity. It did require a hearty, 20-second shake to dispel the gas, but almost immediately afterwards began to show plenty of charming, mature/muddled dark berry flavors. I also get where people point up some oxidative notes, since there's a brown brick dust bassnote to the dark-fruited profile that was plain but (for me) not off-putting. The texture was the most appealing element here, as the tannins are barely a feathery whisper at this point but the minerality lends almost a pea gravel sensation in the mouth. Whether this is due to the wine or to some remaining dissolved gas isn't clear, but the overall effect in this bottle at least, was very charming. I was hoping for 'drinkable,' this was all of that and then some.
January 20, 2015 - I've had one bottle in a wine fridge for about two years now and I found it to be OK, at least initially. The wine definitely smelled of dark fruit and herbs/spice, with some green. Overall, not something I wouldn't recognize as wine or further as Pinot Noir. I mean, this smelled like Pinots I've had. What emerges on the palate is tight and initially unyielding, but with brighter red fruit - cherry and raspberry, black tea, and some "stony" qualities/minerality. Nice acidity carrying through. Certainly rustic and tannic as others have suggested. While I expected the fruit to be more upfront the second day and for a deeper expression on the palate, but there was some premature oxidation, with port-like notes peering large over everything else. I drank the wine, to varying satisfaction, for the next couple of days. It didn't get worse, and was drinkable, but had an unsettling oxidation note trespassing its way. Still, nice red fruit and forest floor also emerged, not altogether over-shadowed by the bitterness and oxidized-like flavors.
November 30, 2013 - Wow- what a colossal disappointment. This wine, well-documented that it was made with no sulfur added, is a murky mess.
The wine- maker, Gideon Birkenstock, recently commented in a wineberzerkers forum, and I am paraphrasing, that he did not use any sulfur with the goal of making a "natural wine" but that now he regrets the decision. He goes on to say that in his judgement, the wine will "come around" in a few years time (as the microorganisms continue to multiply).
A note to Gideon- I regret buying this wine sir. If I can make a request, now that I am more informed of your wine-making practices, the next time that you decide to experiment with the beautiful bounty that your wonderful vineyard gives you, would you please give your customers a heads-up first so I can change my purchasing goals accordingly? I wasted $50.00 per bottle in the name of your "natural" fetish. What is so ironic to me is that your non-interventionalist wine-growing approach was taken to the absurd and yes naïve level- your very goal of allowing the vineyard to speak for itself was doomed before the wine had a chance because the microorganisms did more to change the character of the wine than anything your could have done yourself; by not "intervening with sulfur" to protect the wine, you have effectively showed us what happens when a wine grower takes this notion ridiculously too far.
March 5, 2013 - Nose a bit international - also darker; Nice balance but flavor a bit off; Bad finish; Bad butter - popcorn
November 4, 2012 - Weird root beer like nose with some spritz in the mouth. Decanted in hopes that it would blow off. While some interesting blue Pinot fruit started to emerge it was still masked by something unpleasant. This is something I can't get behind and makes me think it may be a product of the low/no So2
October 10, 2012 - Colour: dark and dull
Nose: Dark and sweaty, cherries, strawberries, buttermilk and green herbs.
Mouth: Dark fruit, meat, strawberries and cherries.