Native9 2009 Pinot Noir Rancho Ontiveros (Santa Maria Valley) – Big and leathery, with just about the darkest fruit one can extract from pinot noir. Very long, with steady and impenetrable density throughout. This is massive, but it’s also a very good wine.
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pinot noir
Hi
Alta Maria 2009 Pinot Noir Rancho Ontiveros (Santa Maria Valley) – Blood orange and plum. Medium-bodied. Central Otago-ish. I like it, but it’s a bit of a stumbler.
Fe Dunawe
Longoria 2008 Pinot Noir Fe Ciega (Santa Rita Hills) – 14.2% Earthen, blossoming into a more expressive form of earthfruit (morel and cèpe, that is). Supple, complex, and decidedly Old World in inspiration. I adore this wine.(11/11)
Gordo
Longoria 2009 Pinot Noir Rancho Santa Rosa (Santa Rita Hills) – 13.4%. Rough and rustic, definitely unpolished; a wine more about potential than form. The balance and material (quantitatively) seem to be there, but it’s all a jumble at the moment. (11/11)
She knows Jack
Arcadian 2006 Pinot Noir “Jill’s Cuvée” (Santa Maria Valley) – Starts pianissimo, with just a few little bursts of ripe, reddish fruit. These develop into a theme, then a theme with variations, as decorative contrapuntal nut shavings and wet soil aromas enter the work. What starts in subtlety ends in restrained lushness, full-fruited but with elegance that does not diminish even as a piercing trill of acidity rings and echoes long into the coda. There is still an air of rehearsal to this wine, and more work and refinement yet to come, and it will probably never be the most complex of works. But appealing? Oh, yes. You’ll find yourself humming the melody the following day. (11/11)
Beg & Gravel
Maréchal 2004 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Really good, as of now. Biting, brittle, flowing, wholesome. Contradictions in pinot. It’s sharply dark reddish, yet it’s as appealing as a Bourgogne from anyone but the absurdly decommissioning producers (who use young-vine grand cru fruit, etc., and whose Bourgognes tend to be priced at premier cru levels) could possibly be. (12/11)
…to the argument
Marie-Pierre Germain 2009 Bourgogne Rouge (Burgundy) – A bit tough, despite a quite pleasant sand art-like procession of layers of fruit. Eventually, though, the structure pummels and then desiccates. Maybe more time will help, but I don’t know that I see the balance for aging; maybe best to manage this wine with food, rather than cellaring. (10/11)
Fromm here to eternity
Fromm “La Strada” 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Extremely difficult and sullen. For about thirty minutes I worry about low-level cork taint, for the next thirty minutes I struggle to peer into an opaque glass of murky berries and thick leather, and for the thirty minutes after that I try to figure out of this has just died very quickly (previous bottles were quite expressive, albeit structurally primary), has inexplicably re-closed…or, then, there’s that low-level taint question again. Well, whichever. It’s possible to appreciate the tiny bit this wine gives, but it’s not really possible to appreciate the wine. (10/11)
Maréchal law
Maréchal 2007 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Surprisingly harsh and gritty; whether a stage or an endpoint I don’t know for sure, but I do know that I’ve been pretty disappointed with this wine for the last few vintages, in youth or near-youth. Have they changed, or have I? (9/11)
Feet of Clayvin
Fromm “La Strada” 2001 Pinot Noir Clayvin (Marlborough) – Cooked. A recent purchase, so not indicative of properly-stored bottles. (9/11)