TN: 2005 Foxen Pinot Noir Sea Smoke Vineyard

WINE TALK
1
  • 2005 Foxen Pinot Noir Sea Smoke Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills - Sta. Rita Hills (10/30/2009)
    oh well - looked forward to this unique bottling but it came out flat displaying soft notes of raspberries and cherries, some spice, white pepper, moist wood - corked? hard to say but not detectable by me on the nose…nowhere near the Sea Smoke Southing 2005 which is just fantastic (84 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

2

Hmm, doesn’t sound corked (‘moist wood’) but I guess it could, if the TCA was blending with a ton of oak, the oak might overtake the cardboard aspect…

Wasn’t this the hugely sought after wine - more so than any of the others - after Sideways came out? Wasn’t this featured on that film in some way? I recall Foxen moved way to the forefront of that mania.

3

Too bad. I had this wine a year ago, and it was off the charts delicious!

And I believe they are the only people to receive pinot from Seasmoke. Great people
at Foxen, make fantastic wines.

4

[quote=“Todd F r e n c h”]Hmm, doesn’t sound corked (‘moist wood’) but I guess it could, if the TCA was blending with a ton of oak, the oak might overtake the cardboard aspect…

there was something damp about it

it is the only other winery that uses sea smoke grapes…

5
  • 2005 Foxen Pinot Noir Sea Smoke Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills - Sta. Rita Hills (4/3/2011)
    I am a dedicated fan of California Pinot Noir, but even I know when a wine has been pushed farther than it should. This wine has all the right variables – great vintage, great vineyard, great winemakers – the perfect storm for a great wine. But it is not great. It is OK, but not great. Overripe (bordering on stewed) notes of black cherry, cinnamon, candy bar, sun-dried tomatoes, red clay and vanilla. Tasty and rich on the palate with a dense creamy texture, but also a little monolithic, and I feel somehow that the fruit has taken a backseat to the craft. A Pinot on steroids, to be sure, and really yummy with some some charcuterie and goat cheese, but not a wine that I would buy again, especially at this $70++ price point. (86 pts.)
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Yes, bill/foxen helped pick the land/etc when sea smoke was getting started. For such, they have access to some grapes. That came straight from Jen.

7

Tis a bummer as this was a gorgeous wine in it’s early days . . . I still remember the SB Futures tasting when Laube gave it great barrel scores and the Foxen table was mobbed (to put it mildly . . .)

Cheers!

8

I took the 2002 Foxen Sea Smoke to FMIII’s pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner back in 2008. It was one of the worst wines of the night…stewed fruit, tons of oak, and just not interesting…much like Paul’s note above, only 86 points would be much too generous. I’m pretty sure it ended up getting dumped at the end of the night, and there were lots of thirsty wine-heads there.