Twin Cities Wine Tasting with John Glas
Host your own wine tasting with John Glas

Twin Cities Wine Club Presents

American Pinot Noir

September 23, 2006

 

Introduction Wines

1.  2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Chardonnay

Nose:  A fruit forward nose with pear and apple.

Taste:  Fruit dominated with very little oak and a crisp clean taste.

Finish:  Medium with nice apple and mineral notes.

Evaluation:  89  A good value chardonnay for around $16.

 

2.  2003 Flora Springs Barrel Fermented Napa Valley Chardonnay

Nose:  Up front fruit.

Taste:  Melon, pear with buttery notes interweaving.

Finish:  A little acidic and not quite in balance.

Evaluation:  87 points.

 

Almost everyone enjoyed the Barrel Fermented except me and one other.

 

 

Pinot Wine List Results

 

1.  2004 Talley Vineyards Pinot Noir Arroyo Grande Valley

Color:  Medium purple

Nose:  Earth dominated

Taste:  Very gritty with floral notes and a little sour cherry

Finish:  A consistent medium finish around 30 seconds.

Evaluation:  and not an impressive wine for $30.  87 points

 

2.  2004 St. Innocent Pinot Noir “Seven Springs Vineyard

Color:  Light purple

Nose:  Heat, smoke and floral notes

Taste:  Floral, plum, spice and wild berry.

Finish:  A mild finish with nothing exciting but around the 30 second mark I was getting a buttery flavor.

Evaluation:  A young wine that will improve with age.  It appears this would get more complex.  90 points

 

3.  2004 Londer Pinot Noir “Anderson Valley”

Color:  Ruby red

Nose:  Heat!

Taste:  Cherry and gritty earth tones.

Finish:  Flatten out quickly.

Evaluation:  It appeared this wine was young and had not had time to develop.  Little fruit.  81 points

 

4.  2004 Ken Wright Cellars “Liner and Elsen Cuvee Carter Vineyard

Color:  Extremely dark purple

Nose:  Heat city

Taste:  Spice, pepper, floral

Finish:  Very tannic and hadn't’t developed a smooth finish or may never.

Evaluation:  Nice overall with cellar time needed 88 points

 

5.  2003 W. H. Smith Maritime Vineyard

Color:  Medium

Nose:  Nothing

Taste:  Plum, vanilla, spice

Finish:  Disappointing with nothing happening

Evaluation:  Disjointed and if you have any of this cellar it.  Certainly not or never will be 97 points as WS gave it.  80 points

 

6.  2003 A.P. Gary's’ Vineyard

Color:  Dark purple

Nose:  Earth

Taste:  Spice, sweet fruit and floral intermixed

Finish:  30 seconds and it was a consistent finish.

Evaluation:  A wine I would pay around $30 for and not be disappointed.  90 points

 

7.  1995 Beaux Freres

Color:  Medium purple

Nose:  none

Taste:  tangy and gritty

Finish:  Vanilla

Evaluation:  This wine had to be past its prime and after seeing it was a 95 my reaction was correct.  75 points

 

8.  2002 Sea Smoke Botella

Color:  Medium purple

Nose:  Black cherry and floral notes

Taste:  Plum, violets, smooth tannins

Finish:  About a minute with consistent currants.

Evaluation:  Should improve with age and currently scored it 91 points

 

9.  1998 Domaine Droughin Laurene Valley

Color:  Dark ruby

Nose:  heat, spice,  smoke

Taste:  Cherry, multi layered, earth.  A complex wine with each taste moving into the finish.

Finish:  Faded a little but picked up speed and was over a minute with consistent tastes emerging.

Evaluation:  My wine of the night at our Pinot tasting 93+ points

 

10.  2003 La Cadeau Willamette Valley

Color:  Dark color

Nose:  cherry

Taste:  nice current and an incredible smoothness to it.

Finish:  Well balanced and lasted around a minute.

Evaluation:  One of the few wines that you could just drink without food and not the most complex wine we had but very appealing to the masses.  93 points

 

 11.  2004 Rapture Ridge Shea

Color:  Medium Purple

Nose:  Smoke

Taste:  Little watered down but well balanced overall with solid currants.

Finish:  A little butter intertwined into the finish.  Nothing over the top.

Evaluation:  A well made wine that should be purchased around $25.  88 points

  

12.  2002 Robert Sinskey Pinot Noir

Color:  Medium purple

Nose:  Heat and earth

Taste:  Sour cherries and little grainy for my taste.

Finish:  Not a lot going on here.

Evaluation:  Not a top flight pinot 81 points

 

 13.  2004 Van Duzer Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Color:  Dark ruby

Nose:  None

Taste:  Cedar chips, earth and not fruit

Finish:  A taste that came into the finish that no one could figure out what it was.

Evaluation:  A strange taste into the finish that was not pleasant.  77 points

 

 14. 1998 Ken Wright Abbey Ridge

Color:  Really light almost a light brownish hue

Nose:  Earth

Taste:  Cherry, plum, gritty floral notes

Finish:  Bitter with a short finish.

Evaluation:  I thought this was made in the 90s and I was correct on the prediction.  Might be past its prime.  85 points

  

15.  2000 Panther Creek Red Hills Estate

Color:  Dark purple

Nose:  Heat and spice

Taste:  spice, black olives, and no detectable fruit

Finish:  Weak with little going on.

Evaluation:  83 points

.

 16. 2003 Testarossa Pinot Noir Central Coast Palazzio 

Color:  Almost transparent

Nose:  Buttery

Taste:  Not a lot of detectable elements

Finish:  consistent whatever was there

Evaluation:  84 points

 

17.  2003 Dobbs Family Estate Black Label

Color:  Ruby red

Nose:  Cherry, sweet, smoke, violets

Taste:  Violets, pleasing currents and pepper

Finish:  Complex finish lasting over 45 seconds.

Evaluation:  An impressive wine and this ended up winning the wine of the night at the pinot tasting.

92 points

 

18.  2002 Patricia Green Cellars Blacombe Block 1B Yamhill

Color:  Dark ruby

Nose:  nothing

Taste:  Bitter, floral

Finish:  bitter

Evaluation:  Not impressive 81 points

  

19.  2004 Rochioli Russian River Valley

Color:  Light red

Nose:  raspberry and earth

Taste:  Dominated by pepper and floral notes

Finish:  About a minute with buttery notes present.

Evaluation:  A well made wine however I don’t believe the price tag of close to $50 is worth purchasing again.  90 points

  

 20.  2003 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Anden Vineyard

Color:  Extremely dark

Nose:  High alcohol which was apparent it was too young for consumption

Taste:  Cherry and earth tones with a little sour note intermixed.

Finish:  30 seconds

Evaluation:  After finding out what this was the owners of any of this wine need to tuck them away for at least five years.  88 points

 

The Results

Nineteen people rated each wine in a blind format and needed to figure out their top three wines of the night.  Their first place wine one received 3 points, 2nd 2 points and 3rd one point.  We then went around the table and added up all the points.  The top five wines were:

 

1.  2003 Dobbs Family Estate Black Label 32 points

2.  2003 La Cadeau Willamette Valley  24 points

3.  1998 Domaine Droughin Laurene Valley  23 points

4.  2004 Rochioli Russian River Valley  17 points

5.  2004 Ken Wright Cellars “Liner and Elsen Cuvee Carter Vineyard”

     2002 Patricia Green Cellars Blacombe Block 1B Yamhill (tie 4 points)