2016 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Ostia Tempore

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 92.3 points

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  1/5/2021 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  Tasted fully blind in a "Burgundy or not Burgundy?" tasting.
  
  Quite translucent and still rather youthful cherry red color with a subtly plummy-purple hue. Dry, savory and slightly smoky nose with nuanced aromas of understated Pinosity, gamey funk, some earthy tones, a little bit of sweet red cherry, light crunchy notes of redcurrant, a brambly hint of raspberry and a touch of savory wood spice. The wine feels dry, textural and enjoyably sinewy on the palate with a medium body and firm, moderately grippy tannins. Vibrant flavors of ripe raspberries, fresh red plums, some gamey meat, a little bit of stony minerality, light woody notes of pencil shavings and smoky oak, a hint of earth and a sanguine touch of iron. The structure relies on both the tannins and on the high acidity. The finish is dry, moderately grippy and quite meaty with rather long flavors of fresh red fruits, gamey meat, some earth, light toasty notes of smoke, a little bit of savory wood spice, a hint of phenolic bitterness and a sanguine touch of iron.
  
  A surprisingly serious, structure-driven and still relatively angular effort. At first the nose didn't move me much, but the wine opens up beautifully into an impressively savory, textural effort. The taste here is even better than the nose. I was thoroughly impressed by this wine - it's definitely not a fruit-forward crowdpleaser, but instead very much like old school Burgundy. Although in a pretty lovely spot right now, I can imagine the wine will continue to improve for years more. Even when the wine was pitted blind against a Burgundy (2017 Pascal Prunier-Bonheur Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru), I guessed that this was Burgundy. Terrific, well-made stuff. Priced according to its quality at 48€.

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  3/3/2020 - Paul S wrote: 91 Points

  Dinner at Yan (Yan, National Gallery, Singapore): Similar notes to the bottle before, this was a pleasant new world Pinot - this bottle did not come together quite as well though. It had a lovely nose, with violets, sweet cherries and raspberries, with a nice blast of spice and a good bit of oaky vanillin notes bringing out the rear. Maybe a touch too much wood at the moment, but quite enticing. The palate was young and rather tight, but had a nice lift of sweet cherries and raspberries, along with a twist of brambly herb and spice. There was nice fresh acidity and a really lovely transparent purity. My only issues were the tannins, which were a bit too tight and unyielding at the moment, giving a bit of a bite at the finish, and the overt flush of new oak. Time will help on both fronts though, and this will be a lovely wine in a decade or so.

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  11/10/2019 - Paul S wrote: 92 Points

  Abby's Birthday BYO: This was really nice. Plush and delicious, and drinking really well young. The nose was a very attractive mix of red cherry and berry aromas, violet florals, and gentle drifts of earth and spice. Really pretty. I loved the palate too. Soft and round, with velvety tannins and well-integrated acidity framing luscious flavours of cherries and red berries, again seasoned with just a little bit of earthy mineral and spice past the midpalate. Burgundian in shape and balance, but Oregon in flavour and texture I thought. There was enough of a grip on the structure to pull the wine into a satisfyingly lingering finish, but otherwise this was drinking really nicely for a wine this young. Yummy stuff; will probably get a bit better as it develops and takes on complexity over the next few years, but it is so nice now I really see no reason to wait.

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