Great education, horrible tasting
Greg pulled the group together to taste Santa Cruz Mountain area Pinot Noir last night. We tasted through the four groups, broken down by vintage blind. I have never had a more disappointing blind tasting. Almost 75% of the wines were flawed and undrinkable.
There were a lot of metallic, chemical, or turpentine aeromatics with very limited or no fruit on the palette. That was true of the the 2002 Mount Eden Estate, 2000 David Bruce Estate, and the 2001 Thomas Fogerty SCM Pinot.
There were a number of musty noses with green palettes as well. The 2001 Storrs was very musty on the nose for sure.
The 2003 Mount Eden Estate was entered twice and both bottles were bad with one worse than the other.
The 2004 Alfaro Family was a bit musty, barnyard on the nose, but the acidity was incredibly out of balance and a very bitter finish. It was very astringent.
The 2004 Windy Oaks had an overly alcoholic nose with liqueur and slight metallic notes. There was some cherry on palette, but there was no finish. Seemed to have CO2 quality as well.
The 2005 Bargetto had metallic, paint, and musty notes. Metallic and green on the finish. Completely undrinkable.
The only three drinkable Santa Cruz Mountain Pinots out of twelve tasted were:
2001 Storrs Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
2003 Burrell School "Veranda Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
2004 Varner "Hidden Block" Spring Ridge Vineyards Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
I thought that the 2004 Varner Hidden Block was by far the best SCM Pinots we tasted. The palette with nice cherry tones was solid with a good light finish. However, I found the nose had some herbaceous qualities and something else I couldn't capture.
The 2003 Varner Chardonnay Spring Ridge Vineyard, Home Vineyard was more enjoyable than the Pinot. Nice marzipan and peach. A bit buttery on the finish, but very enjoyable.
While the Varner was the best and quite drinkable, it isn't good enough to complete with Sonoma Pinot in the same price range. In fact, Greg threw in a bottle of his 2005 Alcina Cellars Sonoma Coast as a ringer which I called as a immediately.
It was delicious with nice cherry with some floral and hints of tea on the nose. Good cherry, spice, and a little tea on the palette. Nice fruit balance with the acidity and good finish. Opened up with to be more expressive as we tasted it. A very nice wine and great with food.
A very informative evening on learning more about wine flaws, but not a very enjoyable tasting.
There were a lot of metallic, chemical, or turpentine aeromatics with very limited or no fruit on the palette. That was true of the the 2002 Mount Eden Estate, 2000 David Bruce Estate, and the 2001 Thomas Fogerty SCM Pinot.
There were a number of musty noses with green palettes as well. The 2001 Storrs was very musty on the nose for sure.
The 2003 Mount Eden Estate was entered twice and both bottles were bad with one worse than the other.
The 2004 Alfaro Family was a bit musty, barnyard on the nose, but the acidity was incredibly out of balance and a very bitter finish. It was very astringent.
The 2004 Windy Oaks had an overly alcoholic nose with liqueur and slight metallic notes. There was some cherry on palette, but there was no finish. Seemed to have CO2 quality as well.
The 2005 Bargetto had metallic, paint, and musty notes. Metallic and green on the finish. Completely undrinkable.
The only three drinkable Santa Cruz Mountain Pinots out of twelve tasted were:
2001 Storrs Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
2003 Burrell School "Veranda Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
2004 Varner "Hidden Block" Spring Ridge Vineyards Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
I thought that the 2004 Varner Hidden Block was by far the best SCM Pinots we tasted. The palette with nice cherry tones was solid with a good light finish. However, I found the nose had some herbaceous qualities and something else I couldn't capture.
The 2003 Varner Chardonnay Spring Ridge Vineyard, Home Vineyard was more enjoyable than the Pinot. Nice marzipan and peach. A bit buttery on the finish, but very enjoyable.
While the Varner was the best and quite drinkable, it isn't good enough to complete with Sonoma Pinot in the same price range. In fact, Greg threw in a bottle of his 2005 Alcina Cellars Sonoma Coast as a ringer which I called as a immediately.
It was delicious with nice cherry with some floral and hints of tea on the nose. Good cherry, spice, and a little tea on the palette. Nice fruit balance with the acidity and good finish. Opened up with to be more expressive as we tasted it. A very nice wine and great with food.
A very informative evening on learning more about wine flaws, but not a very enjoyable tasting.
posted by Pat Lee at 6:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home