In anticipation of Berserker Day, it was time to kill my last Navarro 1990 pinot.
It was the 1990 Anderson Valley, Mendocino, Méthode à l’Ancienne.
Still vibrant and alive at 26.
The most outstanding impressions were the absolute absence of oxidized flavors. It tasted mature, but not old.
Also, and this flavor note doesn’t pop up that much for me anymore, it had nice ‘fleshy’ tones, like very rare wonderful steak, or fresh steak tartar.
As Tom would say, a wee bit of the bully pulpit: Parker misdescribes this impression…“Fleshy is a synonym for chewy, meaty, or beefy. It denotes that the wine has a lot of body, alcohol, and extract, and usually a high glycerin content.” This is a 12.8% ABV wine that has this as a light aspect that used to be more common than it is now, and ABV tended to be lower back in the day.
The wine was lighter in color and, don’t get mad, had a touch of Burgundy to it. It had great acidity and structure, some soft ‘red berry’ flavors, and a medium finish that was was upper mid-palate.
The fruit was still bright with secondary/tertiary flavors and is a perfect food wine.
It leans AFWE.
So, two thumbs up for this wine and the winery’s track record.
