2006 Alesia Pinot Noir San Mateo County
Ruby red in color with some purple hues. What a great Pinot nose. Earthy, warm, moist freshly tilled earth with cherries and macerated cherries. Full bodied. On the palate, this is not quite as good as the nose, but still quite good. Lots of cherries, but a lot of cherry Dr. Pepper especially on the finish. Even a bit of black licorice on the finish. Not my favorite flavors in Pinot although not uncommon in Sonoma Pinot’s. A glass left for Day 2, showed a diminished nose but much truer cherry flavors on the palate. All in all, a very nice Pinot for the money, but I think another year or two will be good for this. 50+4+14+16+6=90
2006 Ridge Lytton Springs
Purple in color, with some ruby at the rim. Mostly opaque and bright. The nose took about 30 minutes to unwind, then it has black and red raspberries, black pepper and some slight bramble and dust. Full bodied. Great texture and is very gulpable. Lots of black raspberry just shy of being jammy. Not much complexity at this point, but it improved all night long. For me, another consistent Lytton Springs and one I buy a few of each year, some to drink and some to age. BTW, this is up to $38 Ohio. At that price, I am probably not a buyer. Luckily this can be had for $25 in the free world. 50+4+12+18+7=91