2007 Stefania Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains

Out of all of the wines that I have been dying to taste, this one may rank at the top of my list, and I finally gave into the peer pressure and popped one since I have a few of them laying around. Let me say that I will let the other 5 rest for a while in the cellar before popping another, but this wine shows some great potential, but what else do you expect from a wine hand crafted by Paul and Stef. This wine was popped and poured over the course of 3 hours, and had a nice light ruby color in the glass with lots of strawberry and floral, earthy notes on the nose. There were also hints of spice, and some nice vanilla tones which I attribute to the barrels used for this wine. On the palate, firs thing you’ll notice is that this is not your typical fruit forward pinot. I didn’t find any candied fruits on the palate whatsoever, but I did find some nice dark cherry hints that I love in pinot from this area. The acidity on this wine is nice at this point, but there is a bit of tannin, which is not overwhelming in the least, but I think it’ll settle out nicely with another year in the bottle. All in all, this wine shows some great qualities, and have potential for some serious improvement with time. For now, I would score this wine 88 points, and I could easily see it going up another 5 points or so with some aging. That said, the others will rest, and we’ll try another one in the Spring or Summer of 2011 to see where it is at. This winery shows so much promise, and I look forward to their future offerings! Cheers!