2003 Antica Terra Pinot Noir

I have to say, that this is a little piece if Willamette Valley heaven. If you happen to love aged Oregon pinot, this is a classic example, and if you have more than one in your cellar, I would encourage you to open it now. If you're down to your last one, I'd still tell you to go ahead and pop that cork as I really don't see this wine improving much more with time! . The 2003 was the second to last vintage for the old owners of Antica Terra, before Maggie Harrison bought the winery. Maggie took over at the reigns in 2005, and ended up declassifying all of the fruit from 2005, and I a not sure if they sold it off, or what they did with it. . We actually had this wine, the 2003 before we had every tried one of the wines that Maggie is making at Antica Terra. Based on how these 2003's showed, it really gave me inspiration that Maggie would craft some amazing wines from this vineyard. Te vineyard is definitely producing fruit to create incredible wines, and you can see that I was indeed correct from reading my posts about the 2007's that we enjoyed over the 2009 holiday season. . Great dark color in the glass, with a nice nose of strawberry and cherry, with subtle hints of spice and anise. Some swirling in the glass shows some blueberry tones, with a faint hint of blackberry. A bit of menthol rounds out the nose. . On the palate, as expected, this isn't your typical fruit forward California pinot noir, although, for Oregon, I think that this is showing more fruit on the palate than most, but I think that is from the time it has spent in the bottle, and the maturity that this wine now has. A nice medium acidity round out the mid palate, with hints of oak and spice, creating nice vanilla tones. The tannin is this wine is showing just a tad, and adds a really nice element. The pleasant finish lingers on for abut 25 seconds making this wine yet another Oregon winner. . This paired well with Zelda's mustard chicken tonight, a Colt's win, and hopefully what turns into a Viking's win as they just tied it up at 21 in the 3rd. All in all, another great Antica Terra offering, even pre-Maggie, and worthy of 92 points. It's been a great weekend for pinot! 92 points, and I don't se this wine getting any better with time. Cheers!