TN: 2006 WH Smith Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Roll the dice....

WINE TALK
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  • 2006 W.H. Smith Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (4/28/2009)
    I feel like I have had enough experience with this particular wine (about 2 cases consumed over the 18 months) to pass judgment on it. The bottle variation is really quite annoying. If you get a good bottle, this simple wine can be absolutely stellar and probably 75% of the bottles I have had fall into this category but every once in a while one stands out that is either a little fizzy from some secondary fermentation or it comes across so oaky and disjointed that it tastes like beaver food. Tonight was the good one, the bottle last week was not. Fortunately I picked up this 6 pack for a nice discount so I don’t feel too bad about it but if you still have this wine laying around, I hope that all of your bottles are the good ones. If you do get one that’s a little off, a few hours of airtime does seem to help.

Posted from CellarTracker

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I have had similar experiences with this wine. Although, not so much with an excess of oak, but more showing huge acidity that eventually blows off.

Funny thing is that I opened one of these last night as well, and of the 4 bottles I have opened in the las month or two since I picked these up at K&L, this is head over heels the best of them. Right from the pop, it was well balanced with lovely strawberry, cherry cola, fig, and smoked clove out of the finish. Can’t beat it for $20, just wish they were all that good.

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Interesting. I have only had the WH Smith Pinots a couple of times and my experiences have been very positive but for some reason I never got into purchasing them…never knew why, but I guess I had all the KB, Rivers Marie, August West, etc., that I could handle…

Sorry they haven’t been more consistent…that is frustrating.

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I’ve only really seen this in the basic Sonoma Coast bottle. The higher end stuff is always great.