06 Marcassin Three Sisters Sonoma Coast pinot, served double blind to a group.
It smelled like old pinot out of the gate, with a little skunky/sulfur note and some earth/wet leaves, and some oak spice. A fairly transparent, brickish pinot/nebbiolo/nerello mascarese hue.
In the mouth, this was fairly mature, but still very sound and fresh, with good acidity and tannin. Was it a nebbiolo? No, the tannins aren’t hard enough.
Over time, more red cherries came up, and a lot of oak cinnamon spice – in short, a West Coast pinot. There was a clear consensus on that. But this is very restrained; not overdone or candied/cough drop in any way. My only objection was that the oak space was too prominent as it opened up. Not terribly complex apart from the oak dressing. I wished I’d been able to see more of the fruit underneath the oak.
I’d be happy to drink this, but the $195 current price is ludicrous. 86+ for me.
I don’t think this needs any more time. The fruit is drying out some so that the oak spice is coming to the fore. The secondary notes are nice as they are. I really don’t think this will improve.
This is a eye opener, I’ve been watching 3Sisters on WineBid. Glad I didn’t buy. I’ve never had the opportunity to drink Marcassin so have been looking for a good representative pinot from them to try and the 05/06 Sistas were in my price range. Anyone out there who is on the Marcassin List, are the auction prices worth giving their PN a try and what one would you recommend?
Depends on what you like. Im on the list. I never sell them because I love them. In fact, i buy extras from others. The 07 three sisters is my favorite marcassin for current drinking so if you like bigger styled pinots and if you are curious that would be the one id recommend.