2006 Loring Wine Co Pinot Noir Russell Family Vineyard
Unscrewed and poured. Ruby red color with a nice clear rim. Nose was reticent at first showing some essence of red fruits and some elusive spice components. Once it opened up, strong notes of strawberry and star anise took over. First sips showed an odd black tea component that I get from Brian’s wines which generally blows off. Also typical with my Loring experience, what begins as sweet and tight always blossoms into a hrogeous fruit and spice indulgence. This morphed into ripe red fruits on the mid and a long finish of raspberry and a hint of licorice. Plenty of acidity and balance. Great wine from a great producer. This bottle went fast. Loring is my wife’s favorite Pinot producer and it was a fight to get my pours to make notes as the enjoyment factor here was quite high.
2004 La Sirena Syrah Santa Ynez Valley
For a reason that I can’t explain or justify, I had middling expectations of this bottle. Nice to be wrong. Deep beautiful purple in the glass. The nose upon opening showed a brooding earthiness and dark fruits, it would have been poor form to spend an extended period of time considering the complexity of the nose of a wine that I brought to our friends home for dinner, so all I can say is that I caught many natural aro
aromas that I experience in a flower garden after a spring rain here in Washington. In the mouth we get blackberry and a gamey, earhty quality which explodes through the mid and through the big, long finish. This got better and better as the night went on, and also showed soft, but gripping tannins and plenty of acidity. I can’t wait to try more from La Sirena.
Both were consumed over a few hours with a fantastic pork roast glazed with a paprika sauce and carmelized onions… And yeah some vegetables too. 