WTN: 2008 Aqua Pumpkin Pinot N., Kenneth Volk, Santa Barbara

Pretty color and a very cherry-like nose. The website descriptions of the previous vintage note red berries but I thought dark cherries was the main descriptor here. Semi-opaque in the glass. Some silkiness (or is it more velvety?) A faint spice note, possibly clove. A little on the dark and brooding side and yet fruity with dark cherries and plums. Weighty but not chunky. Leggy on the glass. I liked this. Had a glass of it at Il Palio in Chapel Hill with chicken breast with cheese polenta, cooked tomatoes and fried onion rings. The chicken was cooked in a white wine sauce but I wanted to order a red wine with the entree so thought a Pinot Noir might fill the bill. It wasn't a perfect match (not sure what wine would be with the tomato, etc.) but it did okay and was enjoyable on its own.
Runs about $20 a bottle retail which makes it good QPR for West Coast Pinot Noir.

[Jenise]

Do you know the Kenneth Volk story? Used to own Wildhorse, but sold and bought the Byron vineyards when the megaconglomerate that ate Mondavi sold off those vineyards. His 2004 was one of the stranger Cal pinots I've ever had--not just black fruited, but seemingly devoid of red fruit. Which is what most of us want in pinot noir. Not bad wine, mind you, just odd for what it was. This wine sounds more on track.

I didn't know the full story. The Aqua Pumpkin logo came from a former employee of Wild Horse.