Who would have thought that this bottle had any fruit left in it whatsoever? I surely did not, but what a pleasant surprise. This was popped and poured tonight at Oliver - A Bistro in Bordentown. Upon opening, I cannot tell you how worried I was that this bottle was not going to be pleasant in the least. The cork came out in about 30 pieces, but regardless of how many pieces it was in, and how long it took to get it out, the cork did it's job, and the wine was still a pleasure to drink.
Upon first pour, it looked as though there was a little bricking in the glass. I've never seen this in a pinot, but it is more common in older Bordeaux. Upon first smell, the nose was pretty muted, and I expected the worst. I thought for sure there would be some vinegar on the nose, with no fruit, but I was wrong. The nose had some floral notes, and was predominantly cherry. Tiny hints of blackberry and raspberry were there, but you really had to concentrate hard to pull them out of the mix.
The palate was a little muted at first, but by the time we finished the first half pour, this wine was in its perfect drinking window...at least for this particular wine a this particular moment. Ideally, I would guess that the perfect drinking window for this would have been sometime between 1999 and 2003. There was however a lot of cherry on the palate, and this wine really reminded me us of a cross between the 2004 Sanford, and the Benton Lane pinot noir. Seeing as this is a Kistler, that is not necessarily a good thing, but we were really expecting the worst.
Regardless, this was a very enjoyable wine, and the most aged pinot noir we have had to date. It had a smooth finish, with no tannin whatsoever, and a very pleasant after taste making it worthy of 92 points. This wine just proves that Kistler is produced for the long haul. Cheers!
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