WTN: 2006 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Clos Pepe...

Vineyard. Santa Rita Hills, CA. 14.7% abv. I opened this about mid-August but don't think I posted on it. I liked this more than I expected to like it. It is a little hot from the alcohol but it has bright fruit and prominent spice. It suggests purple plums and perhaps spices from India. I'm not sure if the quality is bolstered by the age of the wine or by the inherent quality of the grape source--the Clos Pepe Vineyard--or both.

[David M. Bueker]

10 years from vintage is about as long as I will push one of Brian's wines. Clos Pepe does tend to do well for a touch longer. Garys' as well, but others I have tried with extended age not so much.

[Jenise]

What David said. Brian once told me that he makes his wine for ideal drinking about three years out--that's what he likes, and that's what he makes. The last Lorings I had, at his winery tasting room in Buellton, were hotter and less precise than I remembered his early wines to be and certainly not made for aging.