Opened and served soon (15 minutes) after removal from 55 deg. storage. Warmed it up in my glass for a few minutes before smelling what I had before me. My first impression was “Whoa! What is that?” Being an novice taster, I don’t have a wide breadth of experience, but I’ve never smelled burnt match in a cloak of funk (reduction?) in a 2007 Sonoma Coast PN. For the first few minutes I got very little fruit behind that aroma, but the first taste was pleasant enough. Restrained fruit, but the overall balance was pleasing. Enough tannic spine to keep things interesting, refreshing acidity, and very little noticeable oak. Much less than 2007 Sojourn PN Sonoma Coast. I certainly enjoyed the first glass, but that’s all I had tonight. I want to finish the bottle tomorrow to see what else I get out of it.
Ok, this is a little embarrassing being the first to respond to my own TN, but the second night this wine really came around. The burnt match and funk had disappeared and the wine had developed much more complexity. The finish really stretched out too. This wine is young and could use more time in the bottle, but it’s really good pinot.
From my impatience, I learned that Alesia needs a year in the bottle to really show its stuff. I killed a lot of babies to figure this out ![[cry.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/853b6e76c6e8406be77a6727c2a27ad1672678b3.gif "cry"){kind=small}