text messages

Text messages used to make me feel like a 9th grade girl, but I'm starting to get used to them. Here's a little text exchange I thought I'd share...

"Karaoke. Coming Out?"

"Ack! Just opened a btl of Freeman Pinot Noir. I can't afford to leave the house!"


...the Freeman 2005 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($$$) is a classic example of BIG California pinot. As soon as you open the bottle, there is a ton of "cherry coke" on the nose, but given a brief amount of time in the glass, the "cola" loses out to big oak notes and spice. The flavor in the mouth brings cherries and raspberries with a nice, mellow texture with lower acidity than one would expect from a BIG-CALI pinot. This is interesting to note, as other '05 Russian River pinots in this price point have acidity and tannins that make you want to lay the bottle down for a year before opening it. This one is drinking right now. The finish is a little short for my taste, but that's really the only negative thing I can come up with for this wine. Besides, if the finish is too short, just quickly pour yourself another glass and start all over again!
EDIT: It's now about an hour after opening, and this wine has opened up to be a very Burgundian animal. There is almost no "cherry coke" left on the nose, instead earthy notes run the house. The mouthfeel and palate are similar, but the complete about-face in nose, this quick, without a decanter, is wild, pushing this wine to MUST BUY status.
Don't quite get the "Burgundian animal" comment? Pacific West Coast Pinot is a Staffordshire Terrier -- in the wrong hands, it's just a pit bull. Burgundian Pinot is a show-winning Beagle, a work-hound, yet refined and elegant. Moral? They're both dogs.

Speaking of laying down pinot noir, I had the opportunity to sample some higher dollar California pinots from 1998 and 1999. This is without question way too long to hold on to most, if not all, BIG-CALI pinots, but it was fun to try...

note: the following wines tasted were much older vintages than are currently available and in no way reflect the quality of current vintages.
The Saintsbury Brown Ranch Pinot Noir 1998 (current vintage $$$) smelled of "cow plop" and had a taste that amounted to prunes wrapped in notebook paper. Not even joking. Alright maybe a tiny bit.

Flowers Pinot Noir 1998 (current vintage $$$) fared only slightly better, with less "plop" on the nose, and a little less notebook paper on the palate. It lacked any body however, and was also waaaaaaay past its prime.

Gary Farrell Pinot Noir 1998 (current vintage $$$) was my favorite out of the bunch, which while not saying much, was definitely a not-as-bad sign. The nose was closer to the barnyard and wet earth smells I enjoy so much than to the straight up "cow plop" some of the others had. For anyone confused about the difference between "barnyard" and "cow plop", think of "barnyard" as the smell of a stable, minus the ammonia-laden urine; think of "cow plop" as what you stepped in leaving the stable. -- feel better now? The palate of the Farrell still had some of the fruit, but not much, which is understandable at this age (we ain't talkin' Burgundies here), and developed some interesting mineral characters. I'll admit, if I found this bottle again on the open market, I'd try talking the shopkeeper down and buy it, just to try this exercise again. Not by any means a good drinker for ANYONE, but a fun, um, science project.

The Miner Family Pinot Noir 1999 (current vintage $$$$) was alot like the Farrell. Also a SCIENCE PROJECT wine (I love that we've created a new category based on self-torture), I'd probably buy one of these, too, if I happened upon it. A similar barnyard and wet earth nose preceded a palate with slightly more fruit, albeit nothing like a current or recent vintage CA pinot, and an actual finish. The finish on this one made me think of going to my Great-Grandmother's house when I was a kid -- dusty, antiquated house with a beautiful garden out back (that I wasn't allowed to play in). Oddly enough, if you found this wine, from this vintage, properly cellared, you'd know exactly what I meant by that.

It was a fun exercise, one that will ultimately lead to a better understanding of peak times for opening a wine -- after all, the beauty of this (ack!) hobby is that there is always something to learn.


Cheers!