December 24, 2023 - Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of several hours. The 2010 Mount Eden Estate Pinot Noir is simply beautiful…but then again, I tend to be a sucker for light handed, Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. The wine pours a very pretty ruby color with a slightly hazy, translucent core. Medium viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is still developing with a lovely mix of high-toned red fruits: slightly bruised strawberries, raspberries, with mushrooms, forest floor and mild warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannins and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long, elegant and by all rights, gorgeous. Drink now and over the next 7+ years, easy.
April 5, 2023 - Didn’t know I had this bottle. Last one was 2017. This wine is VERY young and VERY GOOD. I’d hold this another 5-10 years or give it lots of air. This is a classic, one of the best in the US. Well done.
January 7, 2023 - Amazing wine, world class pinot. Incredibly aromatic nose of ripe pinot fruit and cloves. Silky, powerful, and weightless; enveloping rich dark cherry fruit on the palate with a hint of cola. Long finish.
December 28, 2022 - Opened 90 mins before tasting. Drinking very well. In a good place
December 21, 2022 - Compared to my last bottle in 2018 this wine is now a tad past its prime. Still wonderful. Drink now.
October 15, 2022 - Wine is fully mature and after an hour is starting to display signs of decline. For my taste, this wine after 12 years is at its peak and will not improve. Enjoy an American beauty.
September 21, 2022 - Quite stemmy. It really draws all attention to it overwhelming the fruit. Quite light bodied. I was a bit shocked at just how translucent it is. I initially thought some air might let the fruit step up to the mic but this is just about the same on night two. The overall expression is clearly in the "Burgundian" camp with the stems, iron notes and prominent acidity. Its also solidly in its secondary phase. Given the other notes there seems to be some variability in either the wine or the taster's tolerance for this mode of expression. The AFWE geek in me wanted to enjoy this more than I did. I spent much more time trying to figure out what was going on in place of getting lost in the experience.
September 20, 2022 - Light garnet. Red plums, walnuts, roses and rose petals on the nose. Deep penetrating aromatic sweet and sour fruit on the palate, winding and wonderful with a strong lemon acid finish, balanced by back aromas of maple syrup and maple bark. A lovely wine, redolent with memories of a 1969 vintage at JAMS in New York in the 80s with Jonathan Waxman’s chicken and french fries. Perfect tonight with pan fried halibut, peas, Time Market sourdough bread and hollandaise sauce.
July 2, 2022 - An Epic Summer Wine Weekend; 7/1/2022-7/3/2022 (Muskoka, Ontario, Canada): This wine just keeps getting better! It pours lightly cloudy, medium ruby. The nose is insane from first pop. Aromas are of seaweed, ginger, incense, rose petal, cherry, sandalwood, blood orange zest, tilled wet earth, alpine herbs, and pomegranite. The palate is lovely balancing the large scaled and wide open California fruit against the savoury earthy components. It enters on lush pomegranite and cherry fruit, turning to all the savoury spice, herbs and earth. Quite saline on the finish. Structurally this shows medium minus tannin and medium plus, blood orange tinged acid. Just incredible stuff and my all time favourite Mount Eden Pinot Noir. World class wine.
March 18, 2022 - Popped and poured. Nice nose of violets, raspberries and earth. The wine is medium to full bodied with layers of blackberries, raspberry, tea and earth. Overall this is pretty exuberant but it hangs together well and should age well.