pinot noir

2007 Papapietro Perry Elsbree Vineyard Pinot Noir

June 17, 2011 by greg Leave a Comment

I picked up this steal of a deal at winelibrary.com a couple of weeks ago. They were offering it for $29.99 – about twenty bucks off their regular price. And I have to say it was well worth it! It is not your typical California pinot noir. It is much more in the Burgundian style. You can see it has a nice red color but not too dark. The nose is full of red berries and I get a hint of watermelon. Interesting to say the least. On the palate it has huge fruit and a wonderful balanced acidity. It has some hints of toasted oak but, much to my liking, it is very subtle and not overpowering. There are some fascinating rose floral notes that permeate this wine and along for the ride with the cherries in the mouth come raspberry flavors. Mix that all up with a bit of damp earthiness and you have a glass full of goodness. I like this wine very much. Rating? Oh, I’d easily give it 90 points. It opens up beautifully after an hour or so.

Filed Under: north america, pinot noir Tagged With: California, Papapietro Perry

2004 Three Miners Pinot Noir

March 29, 2009 by greg Leave a Comment

I recently tasted a very nice pinot noir from New Zealand. The 2004 Three Miners pinot noir impressed me and I would say it’s about a 90-91 point wine.

Filed Under: australia/new zealand, pinot noir Tagged With: New Zealand, Three Miners

Here and there

April 19, 2008 by greg Leave a Comment

Greetings Wine Lovers! I want to share a couple of wines I had tonight. The first is a German pinot noir. A 2005 Hans Lang Maximilian Edition pinot noir to be exact. I haven’t experienced red wines from Germany before so I was excited to try this. Not unexpectedly it had a nice light color and aromas of acid and strawberries mingling with sour cherry candy. On the palate it was very interesting. First you get hit with a spicy black pepper that I just adore. Then your mouth tingles with fresh red raspberries and strawberries. It is certainly light and low on tannins but very interesting overall. The finish is subdued but clean. The acid is nicely balanced. It wasn’t razor sharp but did show its presence. Overall a very nice light pinot noir with an intriguing complexity.

I fell in love with zinfandel in the early 1990’s when they were making big peppery zins in California. Lately the zins have been more sweet than spicy with tons of over the top jammy fruit. It’s not that I don’t like that but I miss the more refined fruit and black pepper of my youth. This 2003 Kenwood Jack London Vineyard zin is definitely made in the newer style. Right away on the nose you get huge blackberry jam. You can just tell it is fruity and almost sweet tasting from the aromas. On the palate, however, I was nicely surprised. It was jammy and full of black and red berries, but it wasn’t the over the top fruit bomb that I expected. Nice wood mingling with fruits and just a hint of that spice that I like so much. It is definitely zinny in all aspects. It is actually a nice marriage of the zins I remember from long ago and the zins being made today.

Filed Under: europe, north america, pinot noir, zinfandel Tagged With: California, Germany, Hans Lang, Kenwood

Wine Whirlwind

December 7, 2007 by greg Leave a Comment

Our local wine shop has free wine tastings about once a month. There are usually 50-70 bottles of wine open for tasting setup around the store. It’s a nice event and really draws a big crowd. They offer wines at all different price ranges for tasting so you can have the opportunity to taste some things that you might not go and plunk down the money for without knowing it. Last night featured a lot of very reasonably priced wines from all over the world. I tasted quite a few and here’s a whirlwind of impressions that I got from many of them.

How about we start with some white wines. Prices are the sale prices for the evening.

2005 PKNT Chardonnay $6.97 – vodka nose, light, pleasant, clean.

2005 Napa Ridge Sauvignon Blanc $10.97 – Grapefruit strong on the nose. Smack you in the face grapefruit flavor then it just disappears.

2005 Napa Ridge Chardonnay $10.97 – Pears, alspice and nutmeg on the nose and the flavor. Hints of oreo cookie creme filling on the back end hitting the roof of my mouth.

2005 Konu Baru Sauvignon Blank $9.97 – simple nose with clean simple taste. Not very distinctive. A little light. Did I say clean?

2003 Marcelina Chardonnay $17.97 – Classic chardonnay nose with oak and buttery apricots. Hints of green apple and peaches on the flavor. A nicely structured chardonnay.

I certainly tried many more reds than I did whites. And I forgot to write down the vintage on some of them.

Penfold’s Rawsons Merlot $5.97 – Hings of tequila on the nose. Not bad, good balance with some cassis flavor. A bit on the light side.

Penfold’s Rawsons Shiraz/Cabernet $5.97 – musty nose with black fruits. Good tannin structure and blackberry flavors. Pretty well balanced. A great buy at 6 bucks.

Penfold’s Rawsons Cabernet $5.97 – Musty herbal nose. Light body and a little blah.

2006 Layer Cake 100% Shiraz – big wine, needs to open up some but has nice flavors of chocolate, blackberries and raspberries. A little bit short on the finish, but it was quite tight when I tasted it.

Black Box Paso Robles Cabernet $18.97 (3L) – Definite sour cherries with a jolly rancher smell. Light finish but pretty good fruit. Not bad for a box.

2005 Wolf Blass Merlot $8.97 – Light musty dusty nose with similar flavor profiles. Ok but not great.

2004 Wolf Blass Shiraz $8.97 – Diesel fuel nose. Not very balanced. Harsh on the back of the throat.

2005 Wolf Blass Shiraz/Cabernet $8.97 – Big fruit nose, sharp alcohol on the back of the throat. Flavors of cassis and red berries. Much better than the Shiraz.

2005 Wolf Blass Cabernet $8.97 – musty sweat socks meets basil on the nose. Big fruit on the tongue with slight herbal oregano notes. Black cherry comes through.

Kono Baru Shiraz $9.97 – light color. Alcoholic on the palate with a light finish. Nice flavors of chocolate and raspberries on the fron tend.

Kono Baru Cabernet $9.97 – Penzoil service station smell. Some fruit, nice taste, light on the end.

2005 Mia’s Playground Cabernet $8.97 – Big red jammy fruit nose. Red raspberries and blackberries on the palate. A slightly strange aftertaste but not really unpleasant. Hard to describe. A good solid wine but not a serious cab.

2005 Geyser Peak Cabernet $12.97 – Nose filled with cranberry aromas. Soft fruit on the palate. Mid palate and finish is very disappointing. Nothing there but dry wood.

Redwood Creek Pinot Noir $5.97 – light color and light in flavor. But some resonating red fruits with toasty oak. The oak almost covers it up though.

Redwood Creek Cabernet $5.97 – very blackberry.

2004 Marcelina Cabernet $23.97 – Vanilla, oak, cherries and cassis on the nose. Very nicely balanced with red fruits and hints of vegetables and mushrooms.

Beringer Napa Pinot Noir $20.97 – Definitely toasted oak on the nose. Light but complex fruit. Hard to describe. A pretty good pinot.

2005 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet $21.97 – Chocolate and cherries on the nose but you can’t taste this on the palate. Hardly any fruit. Earthy and tannic.

2005 Chateau Souverain Merlot $16.97 – Sour cherries, blackberry jam. Balanced and very nicely structured. Still good tannins that will let this one age. Maybe give it a few years.

2004 Chateau Souverain Cabernet $17.97 – Nose is very interesting with cherries and something that reminds me of the dentist – fluoride? tooth polish? Nice fruit and strong tannins. Another one to age for a while.

I also tasted a couple of sweeter ones.

Luccio Moscato d’Asti $10.97 – nose full of tangerines and apricots. Definitely a stone fruit taste. Sweet and balanced. A nice effort for 11 bucks.

Nachtgold Eiswein $16.97 (375 mL) – Apricots with a bit of petroleum on the nose. Very apricot on the flavor. Not too complex. Sweet but not cloying. Good acid.

Filed Under: australia/new zealand, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, eastern europe/russia, merlot, north america, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, syrah Tagged With: Australia, California, Germany, Italy, Napa

2007 Papapietro Perry Elsbree Vineyard Pinot Noir

2004 Three Miners Pinot Noir

Here and there

Wine Whirlwind

archives