March 20, 2019 - Last (and only other) bottle in '14? Wow. Well, this last one is drinking well tonight with pan seared pork chops in spite of the cork being stained all the way up. Transparent garnet color on the bricking side. Aromas of smoke, tar, cola, potting soil, fennel, dried spice drawer, a touch of herbs, and dark red fruits. Light to medium body with a luscious texture that glides across the palate in luxurious fashion, medium acid and finish, and flavors of black cherry, orange peel and juice, and a bit of spice. Pretty nice. I'd drink sooner than later at this point.
January 10, 2016 - Past it's prime? Or gone bad.
July 7, 2014 - I swear I've had one of these and recall it being bigger and more of a pinot for non-pinot fans, but I didn't review it and it's very much not that tonight, so I dunno. Transparent crimson color with slight bricking. Aromas and flavors of plum, black cherry, cola, and violets. Pretty light on the palate without much body or structure, so so acid and medium- finish. It's ok, but a bit below its price point IMO. Paired well with our plum glazed pork chops though.
July 27, 2012 - very enjoyable Cali Pinot. Decanted for about 40 minutes and consumed with chicken off the grill. Strong berry fruit flavors and I think decanting the wine helped smoothed it out. Nothing exceptional for sure, but overall a solid effort and very enjoyable.
July 31, 2011 - same as before. needs quick 20-30 min decant. alcohol and oak out of balance but pleasurable.
June 25, 2011 - Initially bright & tart bing cherries -- and nothing else.
Improved considerably in the glass, with the tart cherries settling down, and flavors of raspberry and dark red fruit emerging, as well as some earth, forest floor and funk (particularly with our sauteed mushrooms).
Best with our grilled salmon (in Turkish olive oil with perfect salmon skin) and the mushrooms.
My sense is this will drink much better in another year -- I am marking my remaining bottle for that time. Ok QPR for $20 but not a rebuy for us.
June 19, 2011 - Awesome fruit on this wine. Bright cherries and red raspberries. This bottle is slightly off (corked) so I did not rate it.
May 27, 2011 - Awesome fruit and great balance
May 22, 2011 - Bright red cherry fruit. A large dose of spicy oak. Really big fruit for a Pinot. Alcohol is a tad hot. Overall a good new world pinot noir. BUT, I have had many Marlborough New Zealand pinot's with richer texture and less oak for $10 less a bottle, with the same level of fruit and better integrated alcohol.
September 25, 2010 - A *very* California pinot. This is not a glass of Burgundy. Cherry cola. Way out of balance, very overextracted. Tons of oak. Don't get me wrong, this is a nice wine to have with a steak. For me, the real problem with this wine is that it doesn't need to be pinot noir: I've had wines that do very similar things with much less expensive grapes, and thus you end up paying $25 here for what you might pay $12 for.