Big Disappointment: 2011 Domain Eden SCM Pinot Noir

WINE TALK
1

Was looking forward to giving this a try after having another great bottle of the 2010. The 2010 was made in that classic Mount Eden style, the 2011 is a huge departure from that. It tastes nothing like a SCM Pinot, more like a RRV wine to me. I try not to put a whole lot of stock in abv percentages on wine labels but fwiw, the 2010 is 13.5% and the 2011 is 14.5%. I even went and checked harvest info which Mount Eden provides on their website, 10’ was harvested at 23.9 brix and the 11’ at 23.6.

I honestly can’t figure out why these wines are so different, they don’t taste remotely the same or even from the same appellation. The 2010 was flat out gorgeous, the 2011 is hot and way too ripe.

Here’s to hoping this great wine value reverts back to its 2010 blueprint with the 2012.

  • 2011 Domaine Eden Pinot Noir - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (12/17/2013)
    Big ripe rich nose, cherry cola, baking spice, inherent warmth and spice with a small medicinal quality. Ripe cherry in the mouth, lingering warmth, decent mouthfeel and even adequate acidity. Warmth picks up on the finish, this tastes more like a RRV Pinot to me, very disappointing and a big departure from the wonderful 2010.
2

I have 4 bottles of the 2010 and passed on the opportunity to pick up the 11s. Glad I did.

3

I hate to say I was “disappointed” in the 2011, but it is definitely a world apart from the uber delicious 2010. Like you I found the '11 to be a much richer, riper offering… I thought it was good, but it caught me off guard when I was expecting one thing and got another. I’ll probably be drinking my 2011’s in the near(er) term and let my remaining 10’s sleep to see how they develop since that bottle is more my style.

4

I honestly can’t figure out why these wines are so different, they don’t taste remotely the same or even from the same appellation. The 2010 was flat out gorgeous, the 2011 is hot and way too ripe.

They are called vintages, and they vary, sometimes by a wide margin.

5

I agree, vintages can vary but these tasted like they didn’t even come from the same place or the same winery, they were very far apart stylistically. A winery like Mount Eden seems to have a “house style” and they haven’t changed with at least the estate offerings over the years. Also, from my understanding, there was nothing crazy about 2011 in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

I also found it interesting that the harvest brix were with .3 points of each other but the finished alcohol had a 1% spread.

Maybe someone left the fermentation run a bit long?
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6

Try a 2002 and a 2003 German Riesling from the same producer and vineyard side by side. They are drastically different. Ditto a 2002 and 2003 Bordeaux from the same Chateau.

As for the brix and alcohol numbers - I would not trust an alcohol number on a bottle any further than I could throw the winemaker. And your implication about the fermentation running long would imply that the 2010 had residual sugar.

7

Its not just for burgs any more…chaptalization!!

[pillow-fight.gif]

8

Do you know that it was done?

9

Thanks for the note/warning Tyler. I’m also a fan of the 2010 and have a few in storage. Ran across the 2011 when I was making a pickup at Artisan a few months back and decided to grab a bottle, have been waiting for some feedback before getting any more. It’s surprising that the '11 would be so different from the '10 in the way you describe, since if anything '11 was cooler than '10, and seems to have pretty consistently yielded pinots from other producers on the lighter side.

10

C’mon David, I was joking

how many of these should I add next time to make sure that its clear?

newhere [snort.gif] champagne.gif flirtysmile neener [drinkers.gif] hitsfan [highfive.gif] [thankyou.gif] [tease.gif] [pillow-fight.gif]

11

You need at least eight pillow fights for ppl that have trouble on the internets

12

Frankly I am not sure what the pillow fight emoticon means. [scratch.gif]

13

Flirty fun that is leading towards sex. Sex that you will feel guilty about in the morning. No amount of showers will ever make you feel clean again.

[pillow-fight.gif]

14

I thought the pillowfight was the emoticons dumping bags of sugar [pillow-fight.gif]

15

TMI

16

Interesting and completely opposite of this thread where most were indicating conversion rates were lower in 2011

17

So the wines could actually be 14.0 on the 2010 and 14.1 on the 2011 – based on the label numbers. And brix at harvest…well, when did you take the samples/before or after a soak up? Did you use more whole clusters (then perhaps more soak up), etc etc.

Lots of possible/potential places for those numbers to be about the same conversion ratio.

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines

18

Adam, this thread turned into a discussion about the pillow fight emoticon. Please try to stay on topic. :wink:

19

So sorry. From Urban Dictionary:

Pillow Fighter:

A guy who frequently has three-ways involving two girls. An antonym to Sword-fighting.

Better?

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines

20

I thought the pillow fight emoticon was mainly for slutty wines :slight_smile: