2005 Ambullneo Vineyards Pinot Noir Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 92.5 points

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  1/17/2019 - forceberry wrote: 90 Points

  14,3% alcohol. Tasted half blind.
  
  The appearance here was really weird: even though the wine had been sitting for some time upright, it poured cloudy and almost fully opaque, pale plum purple color - which then seemed to progressively turn darker in the glass! The wine really seemed to be alive by its appearance. The wine is rich, heavily perfumed and quite sweet-toned, ranging from quite attractive to very over-the-top. There are aromas of kirsch and cherry marmalade, cranberry juice, some ripe strawberries, light sweet-toned oak notes of cola or even julmust (that's a weird, sweetly-spiced Swedish thing), light floral notes of violets, a wild raspberry-like hint of Framboise lambic and a lifted, liqueur-ish and slightly raisined note that reminds me of Banyuls. Tons of everything going on in the glass. The wine is ripe, medium-bodied and quite mellow on the palate with somewhat developed and super-juicy flavors of strawberry jam, brambly raspberries, some tart cranberries, light umami notes of steak tartare, a little bit of wizened dark plums, floral hints of violets and a touch of stony minerality. The wine is moderately high in alcohol - especially for such a ripe Pinot - but the ripe tannins feel very light and contributing very little to the texture. The finish is ripe, complex and somewhat meaty with gentle tannic grip and bright flavors of sour cherries, some floral violet tones, a little bit of beef jerky, light stony mineral tones, a hint of ripe strawberry and a touch of wizened dark fruit.
  
  A distinctive, characterful and super-juicy Pinot Noir with quite a bit of weight. From what I've understood, Ambullneo Pinot Noirs are supposed to be fresh and delicate (especially from vintage 2005 onwards), but to me, there was very little elegance here - especially when there were a few Burgundy Pinot Noirs tasted in the same half blind tasting. Out of the Californian Pinot Noirs in the tasting, this was the most obvious ringer - no way there could be this much lush, sunny fruit in Burgundy. Overall the wine was enjoyable and distinctive, but suffered a little bit in comparison, as all the other wines showed more elegance and less obvious alcohol.

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  3/21/2013 - zoeldar Likes this wine: 91 Points

  This is a big brawny PN that took 3-4 hrs to open up...had with chicken at dinner, came across monolithic and dense, somewhat disappointing...now, sitting open for 4 hrs, it is singing. Deep blackfruit on the palate, clearly not a shy PN (nor did I expect one).
  Lovely (if heavy) finish of berries, hangs on the upper palate for minutes. Probably best just with cheeses...we'll see where this goes over the night.

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  12/22/2012 - Jack wrote: 93 Points

  Beautiful again! Big and lush for a pinot.

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  12/14/2010 - Jack wrote: flawed

  This one must have been flawed. It was messy and not very good.

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  3/22/2010 - vanpe003 wrote: 91 Points

  A beautiful nose. Traditional pinot fruit with a hint of orange flower. The palate doesn't live up to the promise, where a tartness, while not overdone, slightly distracts from the fruit at present. However, this continues to improve the longer it's in the glass, gaining complexity and becoming more integrated and balanced. I'll check back in tomorrow. In general, this is lighter on its feet than many from Cali, but doesn't have the precision of some of the best (e.g Rhys).

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