Lunch at La T (La Trompette): Full garnet with a touch of ruby. Nicely mellow and complex when opened but seemed to have developed a touch of VA when served 150mins later. Blows off though. Mellow, old world profile. Lots of nuance but aromatically best when first opened. ****
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Bottle stood up for an hour then decanted for an hour, leaving some light cloudy sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Clear garnet, no browning. Very expressive, complex aromatic nose with red cherry, flowers, vanillin, tobacco, and a little cedar. Delicious, macerated sour red cherry flavor upfront with a concentrated acidity, followed by a bit riper cherry/brown sugar sweetness mid-palate, finishing dry with moderate green stem tannins, light vanillin, and cedar spice and a stony/led pencil minerality. Light moderate body. Elegant, balanced, smooth, and delicious. Could go several more years.
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Needed about a hour to come out of its cocoon and spread its wings, for it was initially a tad "sweet' and hot, but once it did, it was showing delicate floral notes, along with sweet cherries, ripe plums, tea, tree bark, and crushed minerals. Still unmistakably a Californian Pinot, with a substantial mid palate, but a very nice, earthy expression of it.
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Clear nose ringing with dark fruit and hints of earth, sweet earth rather than green earth. Tasty rich and smooth, with plenty of fruit remaining, great mid palate spice and earthiness. Very long and sweet - of fruit bitten, not if honey - as it lingers on the palate. Acid keeps the taste buds ringing - great with simple pesto and oniony tomato salad. Very good. A complex wine that says fill the mouth, don't think too much, and enjoy.
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Not rough, 6 years later, that's for sure. Still, though resolved, and different than it was five or ten years ago, hard to say that it's "better" in some sense of that word.
Resolved and aged, in a good way, but without the better stuffing found in some other aged CA pinots.
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Another Ted Lemon gem!! Drank alongside two Grand Cru Burgs (03 Clos de Beze and a 96 Charmes Chambertin...thank you Bruce!!!). It held up in structure and complexity with a slight more sweetness to its fruit (the 96 really had none left) than its Old World Cousins. Wonderfully balanced and very long finish. Classic Hirsch acidity and funk. Ted Lemon is the Master of California Pinot in my opinion.
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Floral nose of violet and raspberry. Core of cranberry fruit gives way to other dark berry fruits followed with some hints of forest and pine. Good balance but note just a touch of heat.
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Northern NJ/NY Offline (Cafe Monet - Millburn, NJ): The nose was a bit mute at first, but opened up with some time. The nose had some subtle underbrush, a touch of pinot funk with spiced red and blue fruits. Palate seemed a bit tight to me with some of the red fruit a bit muted. The spiciness and acidity came through very nicely and I think if this had gotten more air it would have had a more complete showing. Overall, I wasn't as blown away as some others were, but did think it had a lot of promise.
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took a few hours to get going, but boy when it did! this shows much more wet stone and minerals in the nose and mouth than previous tastings. in fact, the fruit actually takes a back seat to these characteristics. soft in the mouth the the proper acid support. deep red fruits in the mouth. really, really good. paired well with food. i look forward to future experiences with this.
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Opened not decanted. Somewhat watery entry with some fatty viscosity. Tart fruit, touches of licorice, spice, funk, and black fruit; ends with a spicy and dry finish. Good.
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Dark red color with candied cherries on the nose. Clean taste of cherries in the mouth. Not much of a finish. When served with dinner, this performed better although still not a memorable bottle of wine.
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Enjoyable but not distictive, not enough extract to provide oomph, not enough clarity to be delicate, not long enough to be compelling, not complex enough to be outstanding. May just be too young, but not expressive enough to wow. Certainly well made and with good fruit.
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noticeably darker in color than the last bottle. less fruit, but more earth on the nose...damp forrest floor, cedar, pine... very nice. raspberries/blackberries on the palate. blood orange zest & caramel on the finish. silky mouthfeel and no heat. very elegant on its own and killer with food. outstanding.
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slightly candied, ripe bing cherries followed by cola, spice & damp leaves. light color and body in the glass, but feels much more full on the palate. very elegant and silky mouthfeel, with medium/firm tannins on the finish. a slight bit of heat was detectable but not too much. outstanding with food.
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Reticent nose. Features graphite, black pepper, raspberry flavors on a medium bodied frame; intense, bright acidity begs for food. Deft use of oak, adding a very pleasant caramel note on the finish. Well balanced and refreshing, with a lingering finish. Should continue to improve.
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wow - what a difference a year makes. this has retreated to a very strange place. bing cherry some earth but out of balance and just plane out of sorts. bitter on the finish. hold for a few years and hopefully this will return to its former glory.
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Part of the Hirsch Pinot tasting. This was a dark red in appearance and perhaps slightly less than clear. Had typical Hirsch aromas of wood and iron, a medium full bdy and very good balance and finish. Nice wine; my 4rth place, group 2nd.
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More sense of class & breed than any domestic Pinot I've yet tried. Beautiful dark ruby. Intense red/black fruit aromatics (black cherry & raspberry) w/smoky, toasty & mocha barrel notes. Deep & powerful. A certain funky Burgundian quality but not mineral or barnyard. Firm & tannic w/great acidity. Lovely fruit on the midpalate & a lengthy finish with some oak to lose. Needs about six more months to be at its best, but really tough to resist it now. May merit a higher score eventually. A superb Pinot, expensive but worth it.
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Opened not decanted. A surprising amount of clarity at the edge of the glass. Dark red, garnet in color. Rich, lush, sweet fruit on the nose. On the palate: the same profile as above, with the addition of mushroom, cinnamon, spice, forest decay and a predominate blackberry fruit profile ending with a dry, sweet finish with a touch of water and funk. Good.
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enjoyed greatly at the peninsula grill in charleston, sc. a most sublime meal complemented by this wonderful, albiet young, bottle. this wine begs for food. nose of red fruits, earth, and spices. graceful in the mouth. structured for aging. nice acidic backbone. finishes beautifully with the spices coming to the fore. paired well with lobster 3 ways (ravioli, sauteed, and tempura with tomato and basil vinaigrette) and ribeye with port wine demi. finished the night with coconut cake - the best ever! most certainly an evening to remember for ever!
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very nice nose. some funk which I LOVE. cherry and love for fruit. I liked the nose much more than the taste. (edit: I wrote this last night sitting at the bar. This was the first wine, second was a bergstrom pinot and last was a cab. I think we spent at least $500 on food and wine for 3).
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Drank alongside the Mays Canyon from the same vintage. Excellent food pinot. Beautiful full bouquet. Solid tannic structure in balance with dark fruits. Palate also provides nice layers of earthiness, cigar box, and even a little baking spice. Lingering finish. It will be hard to leave the rest of it alone to develop even more.
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3rd Annual Freeman Caves Weekend; 2/6/2009-2/8/2009 (Santa Rosa and environs): Tasted at the winery. Quick notes: tannins showing with dry strawberry and raspberry but riper fruit than the Sonoma Coast. Good. Needs bottle time, perhaps 2-4 years. Some others commented that the finish ended with some funk. I didn't pick up on this.
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my clear WOTN. a wine of finesse and grace, complimented by an underlying complexity of structure, and a beautiful core of fruit. excellent wines should be able to give a glimpse of their potential and greatness at all times, and this one does. but what it really communicated was how wonderful it will develop as time passes. this is a super wine for aging, and for being a young guilty pleasure.
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Delicate strawberry fruits, with fine grained acidity, and a nutty finish. Felt a little hot, but could be due to tasting conditions (at Pinot on River Fest 08)
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Hirsch Tasting (Hingham Wine Merchant): The nose is all about minerals and darker fruit. The flavor is all about rocks, slate and dark fruit (plums). A lighter body but excellent balance and a silky smooth finish. This seems like a wine that will just integrate beautifully and get really sublime with time.
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7/7/2023 - SimonG wrote: 93 Points
Lunch at La T (La Trompette): Full garnet with a touch of ruby. Nicely mellow and complex when opened but seemed to have developed a touch of VA when served 150mins later. Blows off though. Mellow, old world profile. Lots of nuance but aromatically best when first opened. ****
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9/2/2021 - beerenauslese Likes this wine: 94 Points
Bottle stood up for an hour then decanted for an hour, leaving some light cloudy sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Clear garnet, no browning. Very expressive, complex aromatic nose with red cherry, flowers, vanillin, tobacco, and a little cedar. Delicious, macerated sour red cherry flavor upfront with a concentrated acidity, followed by a bit riper cherry/brown sugar sweetness mid-palate, finishing dry with moderate green stem tannins, light vanillin, and cedar spice and a stony/led pencil minerality. Light moderate body. Elegant, balanced, smooth, and delicious. Could go several more years.
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7/19/2017 - Paul Lin wrote: 90 Points
Needed about a hour to come out of its cocoon and spread its wings, for it was initially a tad "sweet' and hot, but once it did, it was showing delicate floral notes, along with sweet cherries, ripe plums, tea, tree bark, and crushed minerals. Still unmistakably a Californian Pinot, with a substantial mid palate, but a very nice, earthy expression of it.
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6/3/2017 - Richard P Howden Likes this wine: 92 Points
Clear nose ringing with dark fruit and hints of earth, sweet earth rather than green earth. Tasty rich and smooth, with plenty of fruit remaining, great mid palate spice and earthiness. Very long and sweet - of fruit bitten, not if honey - as it lingers on the palate. Acid keeps the taste buds ringing - great with simple pesto and oniony tomato salad. Very good. A complex wine that says fill the mouth, don't think too much, and enjoy.
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3/11/2017 - jbaron Likes this wine: 91 Points
Not rough, 6 years later, that's for sure. Still, though resolved, and different than it was five or ten years ago, hard to say that it's "better" in some sense of that word.
Resolved and aged, in a good way, but without the better stuffing found in some other aged CA pinots.
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4/17/2013 - derek.hara@sbcglobal.net wrote: 92 Points
Another Ted Lemon gem!! Drank alongside two Grand Cru Burgs (03 Clos de Beze and a 96 Charmes Chambertin...thank you Bruce!!!). It held up in structure and complexity with a slight more sweetness to its fruit (the 96 really had none left) than its Old World Cousins. Wonderfully balanced and very long finish. Classic Hirsch acidity and funk. Ted Lemon is the Master of California Pinot in my opinion.
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11/17/2012 - madeiradog wrote: 91 Points
Floral nose of violet and raspberry. Core of cranberry fruit gives way to other dark berry fruits followed with some hints of forest and pine. Good balance but note just a touch of heat.
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2/9/2012 - shaferguy91 wrote: 92 Points
Decanted 1.5 hours.
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10/12/2011 - WDSteers wrote: 92 Points
great bouquet of cherries and comes through in palate , nice finish and acidity dispite being so fruit driven. suspect at peak.
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9/20/2011 - shaferguy91 wrote: 91 Points
Decanted 2 hours.
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7/26/2011 - jbaron wrote: 90 Points
Nice, if a bit rough still. Needs another year - or two - to really shine.
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3/5/2011 - tooch wrote: 89 Points
Northern NJ/NY Offline (Cafe Monet - Millburn, NJ): The nose was a bit mute at first, but opened up with some time. The nose had some subtle underbrush, a touch of pinot funk with spiced red and blue fruits. Palate seemed a bit tight to me with some of the red fruit a bit muted. The spiciness and acidity came through very nicely and I think if this had gotten more air it would have had a more complete showing. Overall, I wasn't as blown away as some others were, but did think it had a lot of promise.
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2/12/2011 - etherscreen wrote:
took a few hours to get going, but boy when it did! this shows much more wet stone and minerals in the nose and mouth than previous tastings. in fact, the fruit actually takes a back seat to these characteristics. soft in the mouth the the proper acid support. deep red fruits in the mouth. really, really good. paired well with food. i look forward to future experiences with this.
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12/20/2010 - stocksandbondage wrote: 91 Points
Wish I took notes, but I remember loving it
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11/12/2010 - tanglenet wrote:
Opened not decanted. Somewhat watery entry with some fatty viscosity. Tart fruit, touches of licorice, spice, funk, and black fruit; ends with a spicy and dry finish. Good.
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11/6/2010 - lewrose@gmail.com wrote: 86 Points
Dark red color with candied cherries on the nose. Clean taste of cherries in the mouth. Not much of a finish. When served with dinner, this performed better although still not a memorable bottle of wine.
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10/27/2010 - Tree512 wrote: 88 Points
Enjoyable but not distictive, not enough extract to provide oomph, not enough clarity to be delicate, not long enough to be compelling, not complex enough to be outstanding. May just be too young, but not expressive enough to wow. Certainly well made and with good fruit.
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10/15/2010 - celtic67 wrote:
noticeably darker in color than the last bottle. less fruit, but more earth on the nose...damp forrest floor, cedar, pine... very nice. raspberries/blackberries on the palate. blood orange zest & caramel on the finish. silky mouthfeel and no heat. very elegant on its own and killer with food. outstanding.
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10/5/2010 - celtic67 wrote:
slightly candied, ripe bing cherries followed by cola, spice & damp leaves. light color and body in the glass, but feels much more full on the palate. very elegant and silky mouthfeel, with medium/firm tannins on the finish. a slight bit of heat was detectable but not too much. outstanding with food.
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9/18/2010 - DanR wrote: 91 Points
Reticent nose. Features graphite, black pepper, raspberry flavors on a medium bodied frame; intense, bright acidity begs for food. Deft use of oak, adding a very pleasant caramel note on the finish. Well balanced and refreshing, with a lingering finish. Should continue to improve.
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7/23/2010 - etherscreen wrote:
wow - what a difference a year makes. this has retreated to a very strange place. bing cherry some earth but out of balance and just plane out of sorts. bitter on the finish. hold for a few years and hopefully this will return to its former glory.
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4/20/2010 - rosenst1 wrote: 90 Points
Part of the Hirsch Pinot tasting. This was a dark red in appearance and perhaps slightly less than clear. Had typical Hirsch aromas of wood and iron, a medium full bdy and very good balance and finish. Nice wine; my 4rth place, group 2nd.
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11/4/2009 - TampaDan wrote: 92 Points
More sense of class & breed than any domestic Pinot I've yet tried. Beautiful dark ruby. Intense red/black fruit aromatics (black cherry & raspberry) w/smoky, toasty & mocha barrel notes. Deep & powerful. A certain funky Burgundian quality but not mineral or barnyard. Firm & tannic w/great acidity. Lovely fruit on the midpalate & a lengthy finish with some oak to lose. Needs about six more months to be at its best, but really tough to resist it now. May merit a higher score eventually. A superb Pinot, expensive but worth it.
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9/8/2009 - tanglenet wrote:
Opened not decanted. A surprising amount of clarity at the edge of the glass. Dark red, garnet in color. Rich, lush, sweet fruit on the nose. On the palate: the same profile as above, with the addition of mushroom, cinnamon, spice, forest decay and a predominate blackberry fruit profile ending with a dry, sweet finish with a touch of water and funk. Good.
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8/14/2009 - etherscreen wrote:
enjoyed greatly at the peninsula grill in charleston, sc. a most sublime meal complemented by this wonderful, albiet young, bottle. this wine begs for food. nose of red fruits, earth, and spices. graceful in the mouth. structured for aging. nice acidic backbone. finishes beautifully with the spices coming to the fore. paired well with lobster 3 ways (ravioli, sauteed, and tempura with tomato and basil vinaigrette) and ribeye with port wine demi. finished the night with coconut cake - the best ever! most certainly an evening to remember for ever!
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4/17/2009 - wade wrote: 90 Points
very nice nose. some funk which I LOVE. cherry and love for fruit. I liked the nose much more than the taste. (edit: I wrote this last night sitting at the bar. This was the first wine, second was a bergstrom pinot and last was a cab. I think we spent at least $500 on food and wine for 3).
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4/12/2009 - xtrmjoe wrote: 88 Points
Tasted at Farallon Pinot Noir Festival.
My rating system (nose mouth finish) /+/, 50+5+10+16+7
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3/17/2009 - peternelson wrote: 88 Points
Family Wine Makers: Hot, sherry-type notes and cherry, rocks, med. bod--grt minerality in these wines. But this was weird...
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3/6/2009 - tlinch wrote: 92 Points
Drank alongside the Mays Canyon from the same vintage. Excellent food pinot. Beautiful full bouquet. Solid tannic structure in balance with dark fruits. Palate also provides nice layers of earthiness, cigar box, and even a little baking spice. Lingering finish. It will be hard to leave the rest of it alone to develop even more.
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2/7/2009 - tanglenet wrote:
3rd Annual Freeman Caves Weekend; 2/6/2009-2/8/2009 (Santa Rosa and environs): Tasted at the winery. Quick notes: tannins showing with dry strawberry and raspberry but riper fruit than the Sonoma Coast. Good. Needs bottle time, perhaps 2-4 years. Some others commented that the finish ended with some funk. I didn't pick up on this.
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2/6/2009 - shaferguy91 wrote: 92 Points
Decanted 1 hour. Really wonderful pinot !
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12/3/2008 - jeff nowak wrote: 94 Points
my clear WOTN. a wine of finesse and grace, complimented by an underlying complexity of structure, and a beautiful core of fruit. excellent wines should be able to give a glimpse of their potential and greatness at all times, and this one does. but what it really communicated was how wonderful it will develop as time passes. this is a super wine for aging, and for being a young guilty pleasure.
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11/11/2008 - Hershey in CA wrote:
Delicate strawberry fruits, with fine grained acidity, and a nutty finish. Felt a little hot, but could be due to tasting conditions (at Pinot on River Fest 08)
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10/29/2008 - ScottGoodwin wrote: 92 Points
Hirsch Tasting (Hingham Wine Merchant): The nose is all about minerals and darker fruit. The flavor is all about rocks, slate and dark fruit (plums). A lighter body but excellent balance and a silky smooth finish. This seems like a wine that will just integrate beautifully and get really sublime with time.
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10/25/2008 - rjonwine@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
Pinot on the River Tastings; 10/25/2008-10/26/2008 (Russian River Valley Winery): Light medium red color; deeper cherry nose; tasty cherry and baked cherry palate; medium finish 90+ pts.
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