This is very active for something so sticky. Late stage, hydrated drip brew joins cough-drop (pruneaux/cherry), menthol/cucumber root, and evasive sensations of aromatic sour candy—including root beer bottles, lemon heads™, and algae. Clearly, some careful work was invested in this. Preservation is intact. A gloss of makeup interferes with its natural gifts—is it a symptom of age? The more it drinks the harder it is to drink. ________ 24 hours later, it gains an increment of organization, an improvement.
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Pale ruby, clear. Rim showed no visual signs of age.
muted red fruit on the nose, Took 30 minutes to begin talking. Tasted like raspberry brambles, cherry coke, and Sea breeze. It finished like a taste of perfectly balanced Cranberry sauce.
Palate was high acidity, fine tannins, medium - alcohol. Lovely, and gained nuance over the evening.
90-92 pts.
The only reason this wine didn't score higher was the dearth of tertiary compounds. Was hoping for some savory notes to emerge, would've settled for a touch of Brettanomyces. Consider buying again if mom and the girls like it.
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Not decanted but allowed to breathe for an hour or so. Very deep color, more like an 11-year-old Bordeaux than a pinot noir of the same age. The nose and palate were monolithic - cherry cola with some notes of underbrush. To my palate there's nothing wrong with this wine but there's nothing to recommend it either. It's an easy going, plump, pinot that I'd expect to pay far less for. Perhaps I waited too long to open it. Not to my taste. Purchased on release and stored in my cellar since.
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Light red center with orange bricking near the rim. The nose is red-fruited with an emphasis on red cherries as well as autumnal notes. The palate is complex with tart cherry, raspberry, cloves, hints of cocoa, and decayed leaves. Initially, there was a bitter edge, but that evaporated quickly with air and blossomed into ripe cherry. Structurally, there is tangy acidity to create a lively mouthfeel and a long finish of cherries and autumnal leaves.
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Gorgeous nose of cinnamon and clove spice, tart cherries. The tart cherries continue on the palate, which is gorgeously sweet without being cloying. Confit character, but a line of acidity keeping it all fresh and taut. Nice grippy tannins on the finish. Delicious.
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The last of our Anthills. This is like a fall punch, with cinnamon cloves, baked apples, nutmeg, and spice. It would be nice warmed and served as a wassail on a cold day, but as a Pinot, not so great.
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Raisin and sour cherry nose. En bouche there’s cherry, pomegranate, and a hint of tobacco. Decent tannins and oak; a tad astringent (in a good way) with lovely acidity and a hint of spice. Well-balanced overall, and a supremely enjoyable complement to Italian meatballs and carciofo romano.
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Beautiful nose of earth, tobacco, fresh red fruit. Extremely pleasurable pallette of fresh red fruit, well-balance banking herbs, great acidity that begged for food accompaniment. Medium tannins with medium finish. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Poured into glass 30 minutes for consumption Served with roasted chicken
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Even more (excessive) brett notes/ excessive sauvage than we noticed in March 2015. Disappointing -- but all things considered, given what else happened while we had dinner, it was the shining star of the evening.
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Core of bright red strawberry, high acid, fruit forward. As delicious as this is, still comes across a little primary and not incredibly complex. Decent.
Perhaps not my favorite Anthill Farms Pinot, but a very good, subtle wine that went well with dinner. Clear ruby color. Nose of spice and cherry. Nice palate of sour cherries, cinnamon, and vanilla. Good length. food-friendly acidity.
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Very pale ruby. A weird note of cabbage upon first pour, which quickly blows off, leaving the stage open for energetic, lifted red fruit with a tell-tale candied edge and stemmy florality. The palate has a smooth, yet sharp entry, a lean body with great persistence and a clean, lingering finish echoing pomegranate and flowers. Recommended for the vitality and quality of fruit; not sure about the ageing potential here, though...
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Drank side by side with the aha demuth Pinot the nose had similar florals but more spiciness, funk and earthy tones, lighter body, with a similar acidity level made it feel a little more austere in the mouth
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Oh oh oh oh oh! This was an absolute stunner! I was pouring this for "normal" wine drinking crowd and reserved it only for them. I initially tasted both bottles to make sure they were sound, and they were. When the guests had left with half bottle unconsumed, I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the wine had evolved in the past two hours. It drank like a lovely Burgundy with a slightly sweeter palate. I thoroughly enjoyed a little funk on the nose and a great balance. I would recommend this wine to anyone who loves Burgundy and well balanced New World pinots. I suspect it'll get better for the next few years.
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The Anthill is very interesting - restrained but complex, lots of spice (i.e., pepper) on the back palate with a lovely edge. Lots of cherries and a hint of bosc pear.
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Terrific mixture of bright, acidic fruit on the front end, but not overdone. My wife did not love this wine over the summer, however I handed her a blind glass last night and she raved. It does seem to be be getting better with age as the acidity has decreased leaving a very balanced finish. Big fan.
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Intens fruktig nese, bringebaer og jordbaer-eksplosjon, frisk og saftig, men holder seg paa den kjoelige siden. Floeyelspreget munnfoelelse, meget bra struktur og konsentrasjon, godt integrerte tanniner. Meget lang, saftig og fruktdreven avslutning. Ekstrem kosevin som er like super paa egenhaand som til pizza.
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Guava, cranberry, strawberry, cinnamon, clove, stone. Good acidity and structure. Sandy tannins. A little short. Grapefruit finish. Tiny bit of leather. Wood shows through with air along with some guava/jalapeño jam. Begins to come undone upon warming in the glass. Overall, nice but not great. Lacking complexity and mid-palate. Pretty fruit, a little wood, a little spicy.
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Tina Marie is my favorite of the AHF pinots but have not purchased any since 2009 vintage. I was high on AHF 2007-09 with reasonable quality/$. Aside from Tina, Comptche was impressive one year and Demuth aromatic early drinking. This note is a compilation of 6 bottles, last one 8/30.
Medium body, good color, pleasant, good pinot flavors. Lacks complexity and richness in mid palate, average finish. All 6 bottles were similar with the last bottle better, first one showed me little. To cut to the chase I was disappointed in comparison with past vintages, particularly for highly touted 2012, no reason to cellar the wine. Sorry I missed the 2011 Comptche rated by the Prince of Pinot. In contrast, other 2012's have been good for the $, including $10 Trader Joe's PN (this is better than TJ's Sonoma Coast or Edna Valley, also a price multiple). I'm in a quandary of whether to buy the Anderson/Mendocino 2012's released today given my limited 55 degree storage capacity. Like the wine but 89 pts may be a little generous, could support 88. It misses on pt/$. At this price point I'm expecting more.
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Really elegant wine, with wonderful array of florals, spices, blue fruit, palate has a generous intensity with robust acidity but silky in the mouth, magnificent blue fruit finish
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This is high end RRV pinot - I understand that these folks came from the Williams-Selyem crew at one point and was curious to learn if they would go more to cherry cola or strive more for elegance and restraint than what I feel is currently being produced by the mothership on west side road.
Lots of pinosity on the nose (chill the wine! otherwise the seams come undone and the warm fruit takes over...), soft, sweet fruit with a lot of new oak. Very good freshness, but if you think in terms of the two worlds of pinot noir - on the one hand more elegant, pure pinot noir, and on the other hand, the sweet blackberry, cinnamon/vanilla/nutmeg/cola deeply expressive modern/new world pinot - this is unmistakably warm weather Cali pinot.
Now, I have no stylistical loyalties. I learnt to drink pinot noir in the US, and I think there is a place and time for austere Lafarge Volnay and for this type of pinot. The Anthill farm 2012 RRV Tina Marie PN goes down very easily and you can not go wrong with this pleasurable wine.
However, this is far from the stratospheric levels reached by the likes of Littorai, Hirsch, Ceritas these days.
So, on the whole, this being my first Anthill Farm PN, I must say I am slightly dissappointed.
And I wish very much that I had picked - for the last US pinot noir on this trip, and at the same price as the Tina Marie - the Cameron Abbey Ridge 2011 Dundee Hills, OR, PN sitting next to this bottle at Vinyl Wine (on Lex just above 96th street).
Spicy and ripe on the nose at first, but there is a refreshing lightness that emerges on the palate. Nice, smooth mouthfeel. I look forward to seeing how this wine performs in the years ahead.
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Concentrated; complex nose with asian spice; on the palate ripe dark cherry and black fruits, fine tannins, med acid, long finish. A bit sweeter and more overtly CA than I was expecting, but a very nice wine.
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Falltacular 2014 (FMIII in the OC): This one of the top five in the tasting for me. Looked a little cloudy in the glass but the nose immediately rips you away, fantastic. Aroma and flavors of sweet strawberry backed with tart cherry and a spicy cinnamon thread. Medium plus finish. Liked it better than the Campbell ranch which is nice too.
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4/22/2024 - Putnam Weekley wrote: 85 Points
This is very active for something so sticky. Late stage, hydrated drip brew joins cough-drop (pruneaux/cherry), menthol/cucumber root, and evasive sensations of aromatic sour candy—including root beer bottles, lemon heads™, and algae. Clearly, some careful work was invested in this. Preservation is intact. A gloss of makeup interferes with its natural gifts—is it a symptom of age? The more it drinks the harder it is to drink.
________
24 hours later, it gains an increment of organization, an improvement.
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12/10/2023 - VinoGeeko Likes this wine: 91 Points
Pale ruby, clear. Rim showed no visual signs of age.
muted red fruit on the nose, Took 30 minutes to begin talking. Tasted like raspberry brambles, cherry coke, and Sea breeze. It finished like a taste of perfectly balanced Cranberry sauce.
Palate was high acidity, fine tannins, medium - alcohol. Lovely, and gained nuance over the evening.
90-92 pts.
The only reason this wine didn't score higher was the dearth of tertiary compounds. Was hoping for some savory notes to emerge, would've settled for a touch of Brettanomyces. Consider buying again if mom and the girls like it.
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11/4/2023 - tomandlu wrote:
Not decanted but allowed to breathe for an hour or so. Very deep color, more like an 11-year-old Bordeaux than a pinot noir of the same age. The nose and palate were monolithic - cherry cola with some notes of underbrush. To my palate there's nothing wrong with this wine but there's nothing to recommend it either. It's an easy going, plump, pinot that I'd expect to pay far less for. Perhaps I waited too long to open it. Not to my taste. Purchased on release and stored in my cellar since.
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4/2/2023 - Meerlust wrote: 91 Points
Light red center with orange bricking near the rim. The nose is red-fruited with an emphasis on red cherries as well as autumnal notes. The palate is complex with tart cherry, raspberry, cloves, hints of cocoa, and decayed leaves. Initially, there was a bitter edge, but that evaporated quickly with air and blossomed into ripe cherry. Structurally, there is tangy acidity to create a lively mouthfeel and a long finish of cherries and autumnal leaves.
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9/26/2022 - jamesabdavis wrote:
Gorgeous nose of cinnamon and clove spice, tart cherries.
The tart cherries continue on the palate, which is gorgeously sweet without being cloying. Confit character, but a line of acidity keeping it all fresh and taut.
Nice grippy tannins on the finish.
Delicious.
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5/15/2021 - tomandlu wrote: 90 Points
No detailed notes. Recall it being a deeper color than most AF pinots I've had. Also deeper on the nose and palate. Very nice.
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2/20/2021 - viking92067 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Mature but time left. Lovely Pinot.
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8/30/2019 - BigTex22 Does not like this wine:
The last of our Anthills. This is like a fall punch, with cinnamon cloves, baked apples, nutmeg, and spice. It would be nice warmed and served as a wassail on a cold day, but as a Pinot, not so great.
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8/26/2019 - Chainthroer wrote: 93 Points
Complex nose and palate, consisting of cherry, strawberry, cinnamon, spice, cigar box, earth. Rich and intense fruit. Mature.
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6/12/2019 - Chainthroer wrote: 93 Points
Complex nose and palate, consisting of cherry, strawberry, cinnamon, spice, cigar box, earth. Rich and intense fruit. Mature.
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4/24/2018 - glennramsdell Likes this wine: 92 Points
Raisin and sour cherry nose. En bouche there’s cherry, pomegranate, and a hint of tobacco. Decent tannins and oak; a tad astringent (in a good way) with lovely acidity and a hint of spice. Well-balanced overall, and a supremely enjoyable complement to Italian meatballs and carciofo romano.
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5/28/2017 - The Count of Notre Dame Likes this wine: 88 Points
Not quite my style but is a good wine to drink with food.
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2/9/2017 - TC16 wrote: 92 Points
Nicely structured. Muted red berry, tea, tobacco, and a hint of spice at the end. Great mouth watering acidity.
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11/28/2016 - drumice wrote: 92 Points
Beautiful nose of earth, tobacco, fresh red fruit. Extremely pleasurable pallette of fresh red fruit, well-balance banking herbs, great acidity that begged for food accompaniment. Medium tannins with medium finish. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Poured into glass 30 minutes for consumption
Served with roasted chicken
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11/8/2016 - Deux Chevaux wrote:
Even more (excessive) brett notes/ excessive sauvage than we noticed in March 2015. Disappointing -- but all things considered, given what else happened while we had dinner, it was the shining star of the evening.
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5/29/2016 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Core of bright red strawberry, high acid, fruit forward. As delicious as this is, still comes across a little primary and not incredibly complex. Decent.
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5/22/2016 - Wink Likes this wine: 89 Points
Perhaps not my favorite Anthill Farms Pinot, but a very good, subtle wine that went well with dinner. Clear ruby color. Nose of spice and cherry. Nice palate of sour cherries, cinnamon, and vanilla. Good length. food-friendly acidity.
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5/15/2016 - ljl203 wrote:
Excellent, light pale pink, reserved initially with more red berry depth at 4 hours. Cherry, licorice and integrated tannin, great acidity.
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1/24/2016 - yaCellar Likes this wine: 92 Points
Just going to say, this is damned good. Very enjoyable at PnP and became more balanced over 2 hours in a decanter. Paired well with roast duck.
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12/5/2015 - palbe Likes this wine: 90 Points
Very pale ruby. A weird note of cabbage upon first pour, which quickly blows off, leaving the stage open for energetic, lifted red fruit with a tell-tale candied edge and stemmy florality. The palate has a smooth, yet sharp entry, a lean body with great persistence and a clean, lingering finish echoing pomegranate and flowers. Recommended for the vitality and quality of fruit; not sure about the ageing potential here, though...
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9/13/2015 - eoinhharkins wrote:
Drank side by side with the aha demuth Pinot the nose had similar florals but more spiciness, funk and earthy tones, lighter body, with a similar acidity level made it feel a little more austere in the mouth
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5/12/2015 - kthornton78 wrote:
on the tart/cranberry end of the spectrum with a bright acid/tannin profile. paired well with roasted chicken.
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4/17/2015 - t0pshelf Likes this wine:
A surprisingly light bodied pinot, almost grenache-like in color in the glass, nicely aromatic, bright cherry. More "old world" style than california.
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3/16/2015 - Deux Chevaux wrote:
Very impressive. Well balanced, a touch of funk or Brett. This is clearly California, and yet in a Burgundy style.
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2/15/2015 - jinatnrt Likes this wine: 92 Points
Oh oh oh oh oh!
This was an absolute stunner!
I was pouring this for "normal" wine drinking crowd and reserved it only for them. I initially tasted both bottles to make sure they were sound, and they were. When the guests had left with half bottle unconsumed, I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the wine had evolved in the past two hours. It drank like a lovely Burgundy with a slightly sweeter palate. I thoroughly enjoyed a little funk on the nose and a great balance. I would recommend this wine to anyone who loves Burgundy and well balanced New World pinots. I suspect it'll get better for the next few years.
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2/10/2015 - Tetherton Likes this wine: 91 Points
The Anthill is very interesting - restrained but complex, lots of spice (i.e., pepper) on the back palate with a lovely edge. Lots of cherries and a hint of bosc pear.
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2/9/2015 - Grape_ape wrote:
Trying my first Tina Marie ahead of the release tomorrow. In short, I will be buying. Really nice
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1/30/2015 - MSBohmer wrote: 91 Points
Terrific mixture of bright, acidic fruit on the front end, but not overdone. My wife did not love this wine over the summer, however I handed her a blind glass last night and she raved. It does seem to be be getting better with age as the acidity has decreased leaving a very balanced finish. Big fan.
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11/23/2014 - tnaerlie Likes this wine: 92 Points
Intens fruktig nese, bringebaer og jordbaer-eksplosjon, frisk og saftig, men holder seg paa den kjoelige siden. Floeyelspreget munnfoelelse, meget bra struktur og konsentrasjon, godt integrerte tanniner. Meget lang, saftig og fruktdreven avslutning. Ekstrem kosevin som er like super paa egenhaand som til pizza.
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10/20/2014 - wrmcbratney1 Likes this wine: 88 Points
Guava, cranberry, strawberry, cinnamon, clove, stone. Good acidity and structure. Sandy tannins. A little short. Grapefruit finish. Tiny bit of leather. Wood shows through with air along with some guava/jalapeño jam. Begins to come undone upon warming in the glass.
Overall, nice but not great. Lacking complexity and mid-palate. Pretty fruit, a little wood, a little spicy.
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9/15/2014 - edprice09 wrote: 92 Points
Young but showing well...let it rest for a few years
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8/30/2014 - Chris@77 Likes this wine: 89 Points
Tina Marie is my favorite of the AHF pinots but have not purchased any since 2009 vintage. I was high on AHF 2007-09 with reasonable quality/$. Aside from Tina, Comptche was impressive one year and Demuth aromatic early drinking. This note is a compilation of 6 bottles, last one 8/30.
Medium body, good color, pleasant, good pinot flavors. Lacks complexity and richness in mid palate, average finish. All 6 bottles were similar with the last bottle better, first one showed me little. To cut to the chase I was disappointed in comparison with past vintages, particularly for highly touted 2012, no reason to cellar the wine. Sorry I missed the 2011 Comptche rated by the Prince of Pinot. In contrast, other 2012's have been good for the $, including $10 Trader Joe's PN (this is better than TJ's Sonoma Coast or Edna Valley, also a price multiple). I'm in a quandary of whether to buy the Anderson/Mendocino 2012's released today given my limited 55 degree storage capacity. Like the wine but 89 pts may be a little generous, could support 88. It misses on pt/$. At this price point I'm expecting more.
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8/30/2014 - eoinhharkins Likes this wine: 92 Points
Really elegant wine, with wonderful array of florals, spices, blue fruit, palate has a generous intensity with robust acidity but silky in the mouth, magnificent blue fruit finish
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8/28/2014 - cartime Likes this wine: 90 Points
Sweet red fruits, acacia flower. A bit simple. Needs more time.
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8/3/2014 - Omar Khayyam wrote: 88 Points
This is high end RRV pinot - I understand that these folks came from the Williams-Selyem crew at one point and was curious to learn if they would go more to cherry cola or strive more for elegance and restraint than what I feel is currently being produced by the mothership on west side road.
Lots of pinosity on the nose (chill the wine! otherwise the seams come undone and the warm fruit takes over...), soft, sweet fruit with a lot of new oak. Very good freshness, but if you think in terms of the two worlds of pinot noir - on the one hand more elegant, pure pinot noir, and on the other hand, the sweet blackberry, cinnamon/vanilla/nutmeg/cola deeply expressive modern/new world pinot - this is unmistakably warm weather Cali pinot.
Now, I have no stylistical loyalties. I learnt to drink pinot noir in the US, and I think there is a place and time for austere Lafarge Volnay and for this type of pinot. The Anthill farm 2012 RRV Tina Marie PN goes down very easily and you can not go wrong with this pleasurable wine.
However, this is far from the stratospheric levels reached by the likes of Littorai, Hirsch, Ceritas these days.
So, on the whole, this being my first Anthill Farm PN, I must say I am slightly dissappointed.
And I wish very much that I had picked - for the last US pinot noir on this trip, and at the same price as the Tina Marie - the Cameron Abbey Ridge 2011 Dundee Hills, OR, PN sitting next to this bottle at Vinyl Wine (on Lex just above 96th street).
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5/27/2014 - rm wines wrote:
Spicy and ripe on the nose at first, but there is a refreshing lightness that emerges on the palate. Nice, smooth mouthfeel. I look forward to seeing how this wine performs in the years ahead.
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5/22/2014 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 91 Points
Concentrated; complex nose with asian spice; on the palate ripe dark cherry and black fruits, fine tannins, med acid, long finish. A bit sweeter and more overtly CA than I was expecting, but a very nice wine.
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4/11/2014 - TomTom wrote:
Beautiful balance, silky mouthfeel. Will be better in a few years, but very good right now.
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2/23/2014 - brigcampbell wrote:
Falltacular 2014 (FMIII in the OC): This one of the top five in the tasting for me. Looked a little cloudy in the glass but the nose immediately rips you away, fantastic. Aroma and flavors of sweet strawberry backed with tart cherry and a spicy cinnamon thread. Medium plus finish. Liked it better than the Campbell ranch which is nice too.
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