TN: 2005 Alcina Cellars Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

• 2005 Alcina Cellars Pinot Noir Russian River Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (5/1/2010)
  This wine is not – how should I say? – right. I know these Neocorks have a poor performance rate but this is not what I was expecting, for this wine almost comes across as cooked. Pruney, tarry, and syrupy against a very synthetic backdrop. Dumped down the drain. Based upon the other notes on CT I can only conclude that it is flawed. NR (flawed)

• 2005 Alcina Cellars Pinot Noir Russian River Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (5/1/2010)
  OK now I am getting really annoyed. This (second) bottle started off slightly better, which gave me some hope, but it got increasingly worse with air. Still pruney, tarry, and syrupy. No acid and absolutely disgusting. I’m going to note this bottle as flawed too, because I like Greg P., but to be honest, this is a 65 point wine (maybe lower). That’s now $80 down the drain. NR (flawed)

Two bottles in one night. Grrr.

I love Greg & Rita too, but we have dumped a lot of Alcina recently. Unfortunately, I have another batch in my LA locker. On the bright side I guess I don’t have to worry about dragging it to the airport.

For some reason the Syrahs don’t seem to be adversely affected, but every Alcina Pinot I’ve had in the past year has been pretty much undrinkable. Since it’s been across the board on vintages and vineyards, I can’t seem any cause other than the plastic stoppers.

Tell you what, Dr. “i’m in love” Lin. I’m going to open my last remaining bottle of this and see if it is the wine or your poor storage conditions. I must say, it is a sad thing that all of us bought into Greg’s stuff, and now we all are dreading opening them for fear that another chunk of cash is down the drain.

Sad, sad, sad. I’ll report back in a bit. At least I’m making room for the stuff on the floor of the locker so we can get the bistro table and chairs back in.

We opened the bottle. A bit pruney it is. Drinkable. Enjoyable? Not really. I’ll update. We are having it with tapanade, cheese and chips and salsa.

What I want to open is a Montelena Estate, 1983.

And yet you’ll probably still give it 89 points. Now I know why all your students looooove you.

The Neocork was developed around 1999 or 2000. The challenge with artificial corks is to develop one that has low oxygen permeability (among other factors), yet is still compressible enough that it’s easy to remove. The Neocork is nicely compressible but, as it turned out, it lets too much oxygen through compared to good corks. After some years of experience, Neocork developed an improved model called Neocork Plus that was released around 2007. I presume they improved it because they thought it needed to be improved. As I understand, their current marketing suggests that the Neocork Plus should be used on wines to be aged up to three years (after bottling), while the original Neocork should be used on wines aged up to two years.

Following another recent thread about Alcina wines and Neocork, I opened a 2005 Ramondo Pinot Noir and a 2005 Connell Syrah. The Pinot was very advanced and oxidative, while the syrah was drinking quite nicely. I think the somewhat reductive tendency of syrah makes it more more able to tolerate some oxygen than pinot noir.

-Al

No, Paul, not an 89. An 89 means I like a wine enuff that I would buy again, but it’s not at the top of my list. This would not be a repurchase for me. So… let’s say, 84 for at least drinkable, but not good?

Part of it may be that you guys may have kept these too long. My last Alcina was consumed in January of last year. OTOH, I might have gotten lucky with a decent bottle. At any rate…

"2005 Alcina Ramondo Vineyard Pinot Noir

I’ve patiently held on to this for about a year and a half. It ended up being served quite cold. For all that, it is quite a pure expression of cherry fruit with just a sniff of mocha and cola around the edges, both in nose and mouth. It started to get a little alcoholic as it warmed up, so my advice would be to serve it slightly chilled. It is very smooth and a good example of pure red fruit expression, though I’ve had more complex California pinots."

The only problem is the Neo-Corks.
These wines were fabulous on release.

Luckily I drank most of them rather quickly so I had had a few bombs…

TTT

I’m at a bit of a loss to understand why a winemaker, whose wine (and reputation, potentially) has been compromised by Neocork, would turn around and become a repeat customer? From what I understand, weren’t people lead to believe that Neocork was a superior product? Now that we know that is not true, why would anyone believe that there is a superior product to their first superior product?

This is not to say that Neocork should not be given a second chance. I’m all for second chances. But what studies has Neocork done over the long term that would give any winemaker the confidence to use their product again?

I finished the last of mine about 6 months ago. The 2005/2006’s were damn good on release and I think all the ones K&L was dumping for $15 last year were baked or pruned - and that’s around the time all the crappy cellar tracker reviews show up. I found that the wines I bought from the sellout were in no way comparable to the same wine I had pulled from storage.

For the record, all of my Alcinas were also purchased on release and stored in a temperature-controlled facility.

+1. Freshly bottled they were absolutely delicious.

Like Paul Galli, I tasted these a few times when they were released, and they were very nice and seemed destined to age well (although I was less fond of the Silacci Pinot from the 2005 collection). I agree with Paul that the only problem with these wines is the Neocork, and I made the same comment in a different recent thread.

This is not to say that Neocork should not be given a second chance. I’m all for second chances. But what studies has Neocork done over the long term that would give any winemaker the confidence to use their product again?

If I were making commercial wine, I wouldn’t use them and I don’t know any premium pinot producer that is using them. There is another producer of artificial corks, Nomacorc I believe, that claims they have an improved product with the same oxygen transmission as the best corks. Frankly, at this point I wouldn’t use them either.

-Al

+2 and like Paul I drank them up quickly. Once I know the wine has a neocork…I only buy in small quantities and drink within 1 year.

I agree they were very tasty young, and so I bought more than I perhaps should have. I have 8 left in total and am dreading opening them.

I have 9 bottles left and am dreading opening them too. I became a big fan of Alcina Pinots when I first tasted them at FMIII’s annual Falltacular, but at the time Greg P. had great confidence in the Neocorks and I had confidence in Greg.