We decanted two hours before drinking; sediment present (which was added to the gravy!); 14.5% ABV. We drank the wine slightly chilled - probably 13 - 14 deg C Appearance: Translucent, light body; garnet rather than ruby with signs of ageing - v slight browning & watery rim. Strong legs. Nose: Somewhat muted - maybe to be expected at this age and temperature. Red fruits. Palate: Ok, wow! A beautiful balance of fruits, acidity, tannins, and alcohol. Never jammy like some of its compatriots. An intense initial hit of raspberry, strawberry and some exotic fruits. Great mouthfeel, finishing long and dry with a hint of red cherry and white pepper. We bought this one bottle from Ryan Kunde at the winery in 2016. We should have bought a case! This is a super example of Californian Pinot Noir which we enjoyed in 2016 and which has only improved with its time in the bottle. We drank it with simply prepared lamb steaks and green vegetables.
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We drank this from the bottle with no decanting at about 10 deg C. Appearance: Clear and bright with no tartrate crystals. Pale straw with a faint greenish tinge; pronounced legs and a slightly oily covering of the glass when swirled; 13% ABV. Nose: typical Marlborough SB! Mixtures of citrus and herbs with a hint of grapefruit and gooseberry. Palate: Beautifully balanced fruit and acidity; an immediate hit of fresh fruit fructose followed by a drying finish with the citrus & gooseberry lingering. Lovely full mouthfeel. This is why I love the best of Marlborough SB. Forget Sancerre, this is a great expression of new world SB at a very reasonable price. By the way, this is still drinking beautifully now and showed no obvious signs of ageing. Thank you Kevin Judd!
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To be fair, we drank this wine well past it's drinking window - perhaps things would have been different if we'd done so a couple of years ago. As it was, by a series of chance events we drank it with a spicy North African lamb-shank and couscous. The sweetness of the wine (!?), therefore, became a reasonable accompaniment to the chilli heat in the food. But this wine was a puzzle. If we had tasted it blind, we would have said that it was a Californian Zinfandel. I wonder what you have to do to produce a wine like this from Pinot Noir - wait until the fruit is over-ripe, perhaps, and then kill the fermentation early? It really wasn't to our taste, so we won't be troubling the supplier to get us more of this.
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2012 DRNK Pinot Noir Cavers Cuvee
7/27/2020 - Inspirant wrote: 93 Points
We decanted two hours before drinking; sediment present (which was added to the gravy!); 14.5% ABV. We drank the wine slightly chilled - probably 13 - 14 deg C
Appearance: Translucent, light body; garnet rather than ruby with signs of ageing - v slight browning & watery rim. Strong legs.
Nose: Somewhat muted - maybe to be expected at this age and temperature. Red fruits.
Palate: Ok, wow! A beautiful balance of fruits, acidity, tannins, and alcohol. Never jammy like some of its compatriots. An intense initial hit of raspberry, strawberry and some exotic fruits. Great mouthfeel, finishing long and dry with a hint of red cherry and white pepper.
We bought this one bottle from Ryan Kunde at the winery in 2016. We should have bought a case! This is a super example of Californian Pinot Noir which we enjoyed in 2016 and which has only improved with its time in the bottle. We drank it with simply prepared lamb steaks and green vegetables.
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2016 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc
7/22/2020 - Inspirant wrote:
We drank this from the bottle with no decanting at about 10 deg C.
Appearance: Clear and bright with no tartrate crystals. Pale straw with a faint greenish tinge; pronounced legs and a slightly oily covering of the glass when swirled; 13% ABV.
Nose: typical Marlborough SB! Mixtures of citrus and herbs with a hint of grapefruit and gooseberry.
Palate: Beautifully balanced fruit and acidity; an immediate hit of fresh fruit fructose followed by a drying finish with the citrus & gooseberry lingering. Lovely full mouthfeel. This is why I love the best of Marlborough SB. Forget Sancerre, this is a great expression of new world SB at a very reasonable price.
By the way, this is still drinking beautifully now and showed no obvious signs of ageing. Thank you Kevin Judd!
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2016 Fess Parker Pinot Noir Parker Station
7/18/2020 - Inspirant wrote:
To be fair, we drank this wine well past it's drinking window - perhaps things would have been different if we'd done so a couple of years ago. As it was, by a series of chance events we drank it with a spicy North African lamb-shank and couscous. The sweetness of the wine (!?), therefore, became a reasonable accompaniment to the chilli heat in the food.
But this wine was a puzzle. If we had tasted it blind, we would have said that it was a Californian Zinfandel. I wonder what you have to do to produce a wine like this from Pinot Noir - wait until the fruit is over-ripe, perhaps, and then kill the fermentation early? It really wasn't to our taste, so we won't be troubling the supplier to get us more of this.
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