2007 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Botella- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills - Sta. Rita Hills (11/30/2009)
Wonderful transparent laser red color. Lots of dark cherry fruit and spice on both the nose and palate. Comes across a big wine without being too heavy or cloying. Oak shows a bit on the palate but it does add a nice spicy element to the wine and isn’t over the top. While Sea Smoke’s 07 Southing and TEN may be more complex with better overall potential to develop into great wines, the Botella is really nice right now so I would certainly recommend drinking this one if you need your Sea Smoke fix. (91 pts.)
Personally, I’ve always preferred this bottling to its supposedly more complex cousin, the Southing. That bottling has never impressed me in the half dozen or so times I’ve had it (which reminds me that I have a 1/2 bottle open in the fridge!!).
One of my favorite Sea Smoke experiences was drinking the 02 Botella last year. I thought it was terrific with a few years on it. Opened the 07 Southing for Thanksgiving was not very big at all. Surprised me. Didn’t really gain any weight over night either.
Uh… after finishing the last 1/2 bottle of the 2004 Southing after it had languished in the fridge for more than a week, I had an epiphany… and changed my CT note and score from 88 to 93. So… shut MY mouth on comparisons. I obviously don’t know
Poppy brought an 01 Botella to one of the OC Poker events and I had a small taste of that. Like you, it was one of my favorite Sea Smoke experiences. Really lovely stuff with age.
In what has become a rite of summer my one & only 07 Botella got uncorked roughly around its 5th birthday last night. Great bottle that seemed restrained even in the wake of a sublime 01 Lenoir Chinon the night before. Wonderful translucent, electric red color. Less tea than the 05 but a nice mix of fruit and coast with no cola to be found.
This showing convinces me the 06 Botella we opened in Berkeley last spring had to be flawed in some way.
Perhaps, but 06 was a more ‘challenging’ year around here vs the 07, and I would bet the 07 will perform better in the long run. The 06’s that I’ve had from the area tend to be more acid driven and have less explosive fruit expression, thus making them perhaps more ‘food friendly’ but without the ‘stuffing’ of the 07’s.
The 2006 we had in spring 2011 wasn’t just more acid-driven and less expressive, it was dreadful. Considering the 2 bottles of 05 I loved and now this 07 something must have been wrong with that 2006 Botella.
I think 06 has been the weakest vintage for Sea Smoke by a substantial margin.
I also echo what others wrote above, that the Sea Smoke pinots really benefit from age. I don’t mean decades and decades of aging necessarily, but they improve markedly at least over 7-10 years from the vintage. 2005s are getting into a great place now, with room to improve further. It’s been a couple of years since I last had an 01 or 02, but those are probably brilliant at this time.
