Notes from the monthly lunch/tasting. The theme of this one was pinot noir and we held it out on the patio in the sun for the first time this year.
2014 Blue Mountain Brut Rosé – this B.C. wine has some maturity now and was a rose gold colour with a nose with decent fruit and a clean if medium length finish. Decent starting point.
2013 Foxtrot Pinot Noir The Waltz – this excellent PN producer is no longer around, but I collected their wines when I could after first tasting them a decade or so ago. Now getting pale in colour with an orange tinge, good varietal character and hints of dark berries and vanilla. Smooth and still good drinking but won’t get any better in bottle.
2015 Montalto Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate– a quite Burgundian nose with dark cherry and lots of red fruit on palate, with a clean lengthy finish. People immediately thought it was a Burgundy.
2009 Comte Armand Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets – instant Burgundy recognition, the wine showing medium colour with orange edges, good fruit and clean acidity. Drink soon.
2015 Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay Vielles Vignes – medium colour, dark cherry nose, hint of raisin in the nose, good length.
2015 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Knox Alexander – heaviest bottle of the day. Pale wine with nice raspberry in the nose, good fruit levels and lengthy sweet finish.
2002 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers – a sweet dark wine that seemed a bit new world at first but resolved as Burgundy with a bit of air. Nice length, and a bit austere rather than lush.
1999 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot – medium colour, good balance, and a piquant, clean acidic finish. Some interesting spice in the nose – perhaps some cardamom?
2011 Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Santa. Rita Hills – a dark wine showing sweet cherry up front, with a sweet finish quite distinct from the preceding wines – light on its feet.
2022 Bodega Chacra Pinot Noir Sin Azufre – fairly dark wine with a very good nose of fresh berries and hints of mint, finishing with good clean acidity.
2012 Sperling Vineyards Riesling Old Vines – a local BC wine with the cheese – mediu colour with only slight hints of sweetness in the nose, good fruit and clean crisp finish. I’d pondered opening a Richter Kabinett but this did just fine in the role of cheese wine.
