We had an interesting wine tasting yesterday – Pinot Noirs from the West Coast (i.e. California, Oregon, Washington and BC).
We wet our respective whistles with an off topic wine:
2019 Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay – light in colour with a nutty lemony nose, excellent balance and a well balanced lengthy crisp finish. Very good.
2020 Le Vieux Pin Pinot Noir Rosé Vaïla – this pink wine is made from 95% pinot noir and 5% syrah. It has a deep pink colour and a nose of sweet cherry with a long clean finish. Perhaps the best rose made in BC.
2016 Chateau Wolff Estate – this is a winery I had never heard of before, located on Vancouver Island. The wine was youthful, well balanced and bright and did a good job of seeming Burgundian. I was so surprised to ‘discover’ a winery I had never heard of making wines that good that I called them the next day to find out about them and to order a case of the current vintage (2020). It was only 13% alcohol, and the vines are over 30 years old. They specialize in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but also make a bit of cool climate syrah.
1971 Hanzell Pinot Noir (Sonoma) – the person that brought this had a back up but even so, if asked whether a 1971 PN might still be good, few of us would have bet money on it. It was getting pale and had an interesting tarry nose, ripe and obviously Californian in character, it had good structure and hadn’t dried out as many wines this old tend to do. Good show!
2008 Arcadian Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard – this Santa Rita Hills wine was a lambent red colour with a slightly funky nose of sweet cherry with some spice. The spiciness followed onto the palate and the wine had good length. Good.
2011 Foxtrot Pinot Noir Henricsson Vineyard – run by a couple for many years and without a sales outlet at the winery, we always had to show up, knock on the door and hope the owners were home! This wine had a very nice spicy PN nose with some berry notes, was still a fairly deep colour and excellent balance and length. One of the best Pinots in BC.
2010 Tinhorn Creek Pinot Noir Oldfield Series – this is the premium line from a BC winery. Spicy dark cherry nose, with licorice notes and a long smooth f inish. Good.
2012 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir Georganne – dark, ripe,, sweet and still tannic. Good length but not yet ready for prime time. Pure fruit, not overly sweet Left in an open bottle overnight and had improved a day later! Needs time.
2005 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard – fairy dark still, and ripe with a nutmeg cocoa nose, young and tight for the age – still has some way to go but will be good
2016 LaStella Moscato D'Osoyoos – small batch fermentation, hand picking and small production, although this is not a replica of an Italian Moscato d’Asti (at 9.7% alcohol, it is about twice the alcohol) it is a very pleasant dessert wine and good with cheese. Good acidity balances it.
Photo at : https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/do ... =97452&t=1