Hi all, I am the other lucky taster to be able to try the wines from Ernest Vineyards. Thanks to Mark for providing the wines and Todd for facilitating! I generally drink a lot of burgundy and champagne and relatively recently, more barolo so I tend to enjoy old world wines more in general (for a background on my palate).
2020 Ernest Vineyards Chardonnay Joyce Vineyard:
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I tasted this bottle. I thought it would be over extracted high alcohol chardonnay, but this was a pleasant surprise! The wine was clear, star bright, and pale straw in color. The nose was bright ripe lemon zest, lots of lemon, lemon curd and a hint of apple. I checked the bottle and it was only 12% alcohol, which was surprising! It had a medium finish with a bright fresh acidity that made my mouth water. This is a very well made wine and although I wouldn’t call it old world due to the freshness, I would hearken this back to wines made in the decades past. Very enjoyable!
2021 Ernest Vineyards Pinot Noir Ernest Estate:
I was excited to try this wine as I was in the mood for a nice pinot. This wine was clear, dark magenta in color, raspberry jam on the nose. The oak was a bit prominent, but very well integrated. The low alcohol on the palate was surprising on this bottle as well (I forgot to record the alcohol percent of the bottle), but lots of soft raspberries on the palate. I drank this over two days, and it seemed to show the oak a bit more on the second day. I would recommend holding this bottle for a bit as I generally like my pinots with some age. But a very well made wine!
2020 Edaphos Petite Arvine Alder Springs Vineyard:
I have never had petite arvine and had to look up where the varietal is normally grown. I discovered it is a white wine generally from Switzerland. The bottle shape was interesting as it was Jura-esque and I expected something very oxidized before I drank it, but again, with all of Ernest’s wines, was pleasantly surprised. It was clear, day bright, medium concentration of color and light golden. The wine had a nose of baked apples, waxy, almost a touch of cinnamon like a cooked apple pie. Very nice on the palate (only 13% abv), medium acidity, but rich. This wine would make a great aperitif or even a pairing with a vanilla based cream dessert or even cheese (fondue?). A very nice wine I’m looking forward to trying again!
This was my first experience with Ernest Vineyards and certainly won’t be my last!