2018 Walter Hansel Winery Pinot Noir The North Slope Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (23) Avg Score: 92.2 points

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  1/7/2024 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Needs a couple of minutes of air to shed some VA tinges and maybe a whiff or two of funk. Neither are significant or linger, but Hansel is usually so pure and clear, the anomalous notes are striking, albeit mild. Nice clear dark fruit with some cola.

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  12/27/2023 - Ex-Ray Likes this wine: 96 Points

  8th time tasted in 18 months and the best bottle yet. Deep color, opaque. Fully mature, very Burgundian style of red and black fruits, great complex aromas and flavors, very concentrated. Great value for what's in the glass, our favorite pinot noir. Drink up...it won't get any better.
  Ric

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  10/23/2023 - PITT Wine Guy wrote: 93 Points

  2018 Walter Hansel Pinot Noir North Slope
  .
  Cellared since release from the winery.
  Popped and poured October 18, 2023 and drank over two nights.
  Purple core with dark red rim to the edge of the glass.
  Nose of red fruit and slight vanilla.
  Mouth filling, lush, black cherry fruit, with noticeable but not intrusive oak, good balance, (but not with the acid in many red Burgundies), integrated tannins and a five second finish. It was better on the second night, with tremendous richness and the absence of the oak. The wine is not a fruit bomb.
  At this young stage it is a fruit driven, well-made, and intriguing pinot noir.
  This is my first of 6 bottles. I will drink a bottle every 2 years or so over the next 10 years, and probably put the last two bottles in blind Cote de Nuits tastings as “ringers”.
  It will be interesting to track its evolution, but I strongly believe it has many years of pleasurable drinking ahead.
  
  93 points.

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  10/12/2023 - Ex-Ray Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Seventh time tasted in 16 months and the best bottle yet. Fully mature, very Burgundian style of red and black fruits, great complex aromas and flavors. Great value for what's in the glass, our favorite pinot noir. Drink up...it won't get any better.
  Ric

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  9/15/2023 - lushlife wrote: 92 Points

  see x-ray

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