06 Copain PN, 05 Loring PN & 04 SI Shea Pinot Gris :-(

Inputing some of the few notes I have taken this year.

  • 2006 Copain Pinot Noir Hacienda Secoya - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (7/13/2012)
    When I had this 4 years ago I loved it. Now I am a little unsure about it. It did improve with air but didn’t really show the structure for the long term. A nice pinot but expected more. Maybe it is just in an odd place. (88 pts.)
  • 2005 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Naylor Dry Hole Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Chalone (7/11/2012)
    I think this is my last of these. At this time the wine smells and tastes much more like a 7 year old Zin than a Pinot. If it was served blind to me, that’s what I would have guessed. It was good but more down the zin road. Kept in balance and has good structure. Kind of wished I had 1 more to keep for another 10 years out of curiosity. (86 pts.)
  • 2004 St. Innocent Pinot Gris Shea Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Yamhill County (7/2/2012)
    So sad that these vines got ripped out [swearing.gif] . I had this over two days. On the first day it was all a bit dull. Nothing a good nights sleep couldn’t fix. Very expressive and showing some secondary qualities. Medium acids. The finish is slightly heavy but the wine has not faded. A very nice domestic Pinot Gris. (88 pts.)

Cheers,

Jason

Posted from CellarTracker

The 2005 St. I Shea PG was awesome in its youth. The last bottle drunk a year or 2 ago was getting long in the tooth.

Glad your bottle delivered Jason.

Didn’t Wells alter his wine-making philosophy around then because he didn’t like how his Copain wines aged? I recall an article about Copain and Pax.

Yes, I believe he changed it starting with the 2007 vintage

I thought he had already made the change with the 06s but maybe it was mid way through. Maybe FM111 could shed light.

Jason

'06 is where the change started, but didn’t really seem to take shape till all the fantastic '07’s. I’ve had all the '06 Pinots this year and with the exception of Wentzel they have all seemed to show a bit of candied red fruit, not bad, but not where I thought they would be after tasting the group a couple of years ago.

I think the change in philosophy started with the '06 Pinots and the Syrahs changed with the '07s.