2003 Saintsbury Pinot Noir Brown Ranch

Community Tasting Notes (19) Avg Score: 89.2 points

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  10/31/2011 - Alex H wrote: 81 Points

  Still a bit bloody a but meaty but lots of extracted fruit still. A bit confected.

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  10/29/2011 - Mingmong wrote: 91 Points

  Pretty perfumed nose, violets, tulips, blue and blackberries. Thick dark sweet red fruit, cassis, prunes, ripe cherries.

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  10/29/2011 - Paul S wrote: 90 Points

  Dinner with Fabrice Amiot (Canton Tastes, Albert Street): Rather better than the last bottle I had - this was a very nice example of a good Californian Pinot. The nose here was certainly riper than anything that came before it in its rich aromas of dark cherries and berries, but it was certainly never confected nor candy-scented. Instead, the fruit was just nicely sun-kissed and well met by bits of earth, some meat accents and a hint of toasty oak. I thought it was clearly a American on first sniff. However, the palate sure made me waver. It seemed to be treading the line between the old and new worlds very nicely - while there was a sappy thickness to its cherry and berry fruit flavours that suggested new world, this was met with a good amount of acidity and a classy sense of poise and balance that seemed to suggest old world nous. All very plush and rounded and drinking nicely. Finish was decent too, with bits of spice sprinkling the fruit. At a good place now. It may improve, but I see little reason to wait far longer if you have more than one bottle.

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  11/28/2010 - sfqwino wrote: 89 Points

  This bottle did not perform as well as the previous one. Somehow lacking a little verve. Perhaps the room temperature was a little warm as it was a warm equatorial evening and the air condition was not turned on. It started off pretty attractive, with cherries and strawberries, some spice and a little band aid nuance. But as it warmed up in the glass it started to lose focus and integration.

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  11/19/2010 - Paul S wrote: 89 Points

  Lunch at Alba (Restaurant Alba, Keong Saik Road): A solid example of Carneros Pinot that went wonderfully well with of grilled beef in blue cheese sauce, but this was unfortunately left in the shadows by the Oregon that was poured just before. Nice nose, quite a bit more low tone than the expressive high-toned fruits and flowers of the previous wine. This had earthy scents, meat, dark cherries, savoury umami, almost Burgundian but for the whoosh of glycerol at the end. The palate was clearly new world though. Rich, thick, glycerol laced, but rather nice for all that, with ripe dark fruits, black cherries I thought, showing lots of depth, along with more earthiness driving towards a decent finish. Acid was lower than the Oregonian, but balance was still decent. A good effort.

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