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I have not written about any wine recently because my wife is on a grape-free diet and I dislike drinking alone. I was able to break this Bacchus free streak with the arrival from England of a dear friend of mine, Mandy. On Friday night we opened three wines, (two previously un-reviewed) and on Saturday, a Pinot with my dad's girl friend (my dad does not drink reds), and Sunday for dinner a bottle from the old world.
Today's wine is from a friend of mine from my days at Borland in Santa Cruz, Randy of the Redwoods. Randy, no longer lives amongst the redwoods, but instead he's trying to open a winery just south of the Willammette valley and over the CA border north of Shasta. When Randy did live in the redwoods, he volunteered at some of the mountain wineries and I believe that this wine was a gift from him.
The presentation was good. It came in a traditional Burgundy style bottle with an attractive pen and ink of grapes on the label. The front label has the legals, and the back covers some of the history of the vintner as well as a blurb about the climate in the AVA.
The winery has no website, but a quick Google on them returns a list of awards that their Burgundy style wines have won.
When I went to remove the stopper, I was disappointed to find a plastic capsule and an amalgamated cork. A plastic capsule does not detract from the flavour of the wine, but appears cheap. The cork was penetrated about 1/8 in and left a very light tattoo.
The wine was the colour of dried blood , but translucent as you would expect in a Pinot. There was vinegar on the nose - which along with the colour worried me, as this wine spent at least 12 months in questionable storage at our ski cabin rather than in my cellar.
After a legless swirl, the vinegar nose dissipated, and the initial taste was tangy - almost like it was still fermenting which it should not have been doing.
Despite this, the wine still went down easy (as most Pinots do).
The Verdict:
Any conclusion would be unfair, as I was lax on it's storage conditions.| Style: | Burgundy |
| Varietals: | Pinot Noir |
| Appellation/Terrior: | Santa Cruz Mt. AVA, California |
| Vintage: | 2000 |
| Vintner: | Ciardella Vineyards |
| Alcohol: | 12.5% by Volume |
| Price: | Gift |
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