Popped and poured tonight with sushi and noodle bowls at Tsukasa in Bordentown, NJ. It seems tradition to pop a Sonoma Coast right after the first of the year as I know the next vintage will be released in just a matter of days. That said, we did it again, and I am sure the offering for the 2009’s will be coming any day!
Nice red/purple color in the glass, thinning towards the rim and showing its youth. The nose is big and gorgeous, with nice hints of cherries, cola, spice, and pomegranate. The nose is rounded out with some vanilla and hints of orange zest.
On the palate, this was tight for the first 30 minutes, but I continued to aerate this in the glass, and it continued to open over the course of an hour and a half while we were at Tsukasa. Definitely young on the palate, with a combination of both bright cherry, as well as tart cherry. It sounds crazy, but both elements are there. Some cranberry and strawberry rear their heads a bit on the palate as well. There is nice spice on this wine, with hints of nutmeg and baking spice.
The finish has some heat on it, but again, this has only been in the cellar for 11 months now. The long and short of this wine is that for $25, this could be one of the best QPR’s out there, and a heck of a good representation of a great Sonoma Coast pinot noir. Year in, year out, this is a solid QPR, and I only wish that we were allocated more of them! 91 points, gaining a point or two with more time in the bottle. Cheers!
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2 comments:
My mouth is watering. We visit Sonoma this past summer and stayed at the MacArthur Inn, it was beautiful.
Of course we enjoyed the wines, but one tasty trick I learned was to add a splash of cherry juice concentrate to a glass of Pinot or Chardonnay. The wine maker said he add some Traverse Bay Farms http://www.traversebayfarms.com cherry juice to his barrel. It really adds an excellent blend of flavors. We now buy just the concentrate and make our own cherry wine.
Well, I can't say that I agree with this approach, and I truly do not believe in adding anything to wine, but to each their own! So long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters!
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