I figure if Drew can post notes from 5 years ago here, I can’t feel too sheepish about posting these overdue notes from a tasting last month! I thought somebody had already commented here about the tasting, but I couldn’t find anything, so here goes:
Kathleen Inman from Inman Family Wines was in town for her daughter’s graduation last month and the two of them joined a bunch of us guys at Troquet for a wonderful evening of wine and food. The loose theme of the night was wines discussed in an Eric Asimov article about more elegant-styled California Pinot producers.
Starters:
2002 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Loibner Steinertal. The first wine of the night (other than an oxidized 2001 Prager Riesling Smaragd Durnsteiner Kaiserberg that I skipped over) offers up a nice, rich nose full of orange blossom and white flowers, creamsicle, musk melon, peach and clover honey. In the mouth, it is rich, dense and powerful, with an oily texture that fills the mouth. Flavors of sweet and sour oranges, lemon pepper and white peach are nicely framed by fine acidic cut that comes on more toward the back of the palate. It has a long finish, where some white pepper spiciness adds a nice little kick. A very enjoyable wine.
2008 Inman Family Pinot Noir Rose ‘Endless Crush’ Olivet Grange Vineyard Russian River Valley. Kathleen’s rose opens with aromas of pink grapefruit, cool fresh strawberries, a soft dusting of red pixie stick dust and a hard metal minerality. In the mouth, it gives the drinker a soft kiss of light strawberry and watermelon fruit to go with flavors of lime rind and extreme minerality (which I strongly associate with just about everything Kathleen produces from Olivet Grange). The lighter-styled body starts to fill in as it warms and takes in some air, eventually getting to the point where it is actually fairly mouth-filling with flavors of airy red fruit. A hint of brown spice comes in late to frame the very clean and precise finish. It can be a bit crunchy with the metallic edge at times, but give it some time and stick with it.
The Pinot Noirs:
2002 Calera Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard Mount Harlan. This wine features engaging sous bois earthy aromatic notes right off the bat, along with a fine dusting of shaved nutmeg, moss and pomegranate. Otherwise, though, it is still a bit tightly-coiled and reserved. In the mouth, elegant but abundant mixed berry fruit flavors combine with savory earth and a big whack of wood spices in a mouth-filling package that appeals to me I think more than some others. I really like how the fruit comes out in a nice burst but is always framed by an earthy grounding. Tannins and more obvious woodiness come in after a while and toward the back of the palate, so I might suggest holding several more years.
2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Fiddlestix Vineyard Santa Rita Hills. CORKED.
2004 Inman Family Pinot Noir Olivet Grange Vineyard Russian River Valley. I have a long-standing affinity for this wine, and it continues to deliver for me. It offers up a lighter-styled nose of soft strawberry, other pure red fruits, licorice rope and a hint of bay leaf. In the mouth, it is not really big but it is nonetheless fuller than the nose would suggest. There is plenty of acidic structure to frame the cocoa-dusted red berry fruit that is silky clean, balanced and even-keeled. There are no real tannins at this point, but it has the feeling that it can hang in a while longer. It seems to be in a good spot for drinking now, at least for me.
2004 Lane Tanner Pinot Noir Julia’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley. This wine (my offering for the evening) opens up stinky and one has to wait a while for that to settle down. Eventually, after an hour or two, it comes out of that dark place and into a better light, where one finds scents of sweet maraschino and darker cherry flavors tinged with bark, sassafras, skunky fern and dried leaves. There is a bit of a stewed red fruit note that never really goes away, though, and takes away from the overall bouquet a bit. In the mouth, this flows easily across the palate, but in a narrow, linear fashion. There are some nice sweet red fruit flavors, but also a bit of metallic bitterness. As the night goes on, that stewed red fruit edge from the nose finds its way to the palate, as well. Still, the wine has very fine acidity and a lot of lift on the finish that brings the disparate elements together somehow. My impression is that the wine is in an awkward place right now and that it would be best to wait on this one.
2005 Inman Family Pinot Noir Olivet Grange Vineyard Russian River Valley. Aromas of graphite, tomato leaf, brown spices and undergrowth meld with a nice soft kiss of strawberry fruit, lemon twist and red flower petals in a way that is restrained and elegant. In the mouth, it is more aggressive and eager with both the fruit and the driving acidity than is the ’04. It features zingy mixed berry fruit and some fine stem inclusion flavors in a bright, lively package with good grip and verve—finishing with good lift but not nearly the caress as its older sibling.
2005 Arcadian Pinot Noir Gold Coast Vineyard Santa Maria Valley. A nose of pure cherry compote, Twizzler licorice, sage and wet graphite has a nice appeal. In the mouth, big flavors of cherry, rhubarb and dark chocolate combine with the acidity and the fudgy, grainy tannins to produce a bit of a sour-tinged red fruit profile. There is a lot of push and cohesion to the flavors and textures here and a good amount of lift on the finish, but also a whisper of alcoholic warmth from time to time. My advice is to wait on this one, as it is showing pretty young.
2005 Domaine des Croix Bourgogne. Peter’s interloper was a fun ringer, but not a very enjoyable wine. It is dark and a bit muddled on the nose, where an uninviting rubber smell eventually gives way to some incense and dark fruit aromas. It has a very prickly entry into the mouth and keeps that up as it fans out across the mid-palate. It really dries out toward the back, as warm slightly stewed fruit, sour acidity and sticky tannins totally coat the teeth. Bleh.
2006 Inman Family Pinot Noir Olivet Grange Vineyard Russian River Valley. This wine has a bright nose, with a very distinctive streak of powdered mineral and fresh-chpped green herbs accompanying cherry fruit. It is showing tight, but generally clean and fresh. It has a very nice sappy texture in the mouth, showing a good amount of youthful exuberance. It seems more wood-influenced and definitely grainier in tannin structure than either the ’05 or certainly the ’04. There is plenty of ripe red cherry, rhubarb and mixed berry fruit here, with some moderate stem notes. The acidity is perhaps just a bit rough-hewn on the very fine and elegant finish, which is rather dry in nature and not showing the length I think it will grow into. This is just young and destined to improve.
2005 Inman Family Pinot Noir Thorn Road Vineyard Russian River Valley. My notes tell me that Kathleen informed me that this wine is made from grapes harvested from the far Western edge of the RRV appellation and that fewer than 250 cases were produced. The nose is really lovely, yet in some ways racy—like a bowl of mixed wild berries sprinkled with dried lilac and lavender potpourri. In the mouth, it is very vibrant, with all kinds of tangy wild berry flavor. It is young and fun and complex, with some very softly-rounded tannins and fine firm balance for such an upbeat and exuberant wine. The berry-driven finish is also dusted with beautiful finishing accents of soft spices and dried flowers. I really enjoyed this wine and it was one of my wines of the night.
2006 Kutch Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. The 2006 Kutch has a complex, rich and nicely integrated bouquet of crushed raspberries, pink citrus, peppercorn and cola. In the mouth, it has a cola and fuzzy mint edge to the richly cohesive flavors of briery blackberry and wild blueberry fruit. It features a ton of spice and has a fairly strong toasted wood accenting, but has the density and spherical nature of fruit to support it. It has weight, depth and character, pausing near the finish to show a bit of acidic cut. Coming back to this for a second glass later in the evening, it begins to show a bit more herbal and toasted character that turns a touch bitter around the edges. Other than that, however, it was well-constituted and tasty.
2006 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Demuth Vineyard Anderson Valley. This opens with aromas of intense spices, dark cranberry and wood furniture, eventually pulling in a strong dill/cedar/mint sort of character that is a bit too strong for me. There is also something else that is really distracting and off-putting that I can’t put my finger on. I think it is a sort of sweaty, musky B.O. note that gnaws at the nostrils. Anyway, in the mouth, this is rather full-bodied, with a lot of weight and a thick, flowing texture. It is dense and chewy, with lots of black cherry and dark raspberry fruit pushing ahead to a very dry, astringent finish dominated by woody tannins. For me, this comes across as just too young and raw at this point.
2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains. There is a really distinctive bouquet that accompanies this wine—featuring aromas of root beer and sassafras, pine sap, dried honey, tree bark and a sort of clove or mace note to add some exoticism. In the mouth, it has a nice, sweet, sappy core of red cherry and rhubarb fruit, dusted by some cocoa flavors. It pastes the tongue with its fruit and texture, giving the wine excellent grip and a chewy edge to it. It is really young, though, and at times it may come on a bit too heavy with the thickness and intensity level. The finish is real long and the wine has just a lot of presence and I can see it taking on greater finesse in a few short years’ time.
2006 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Tina Marie Vineyard Green Valley. In complete contrast to the Demuth, this Anthill Farms offering serves up a complex and engaging bouquet of bridle leather, forest greens, mint leaf and rich mixed fruit. However, in the mouth, it is on the jammy, chunky side–without the finesse of many other wines on the table. Big, drying tannins really detract, as well. There is a big bold gob of sweet red cherry fruit, but it is monolithic and raw—coming across as simple and one-toned at this point. I was really disappointed overall in the Anthill Farms offerings and need to obviously give them a second chance before passing too harsh a personal judgment.
2007 Kutch Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. When I put my nose in the glass, this just immediately says Sonoma Pinot to me. Exuberant mixed berries, brown spices, mocha and black tea combine in a dense and textured velvet rope sort of feel. On the palate, the wine is even darker and denser than the 2006, with more wood showing, but somehow feeling like it is already beginning to integrate that into its overall character. It hangs together with an easy cohesive feel and no holes can be found as it slides across the palate and finishes with a luxuriant feel. Though this will be better a year or more out, I was still impressed with its quality.
A sweet wine to finish up:
1999 Schloss Gobelsberg Gruner Veltliner Eiswein. Interesting and pretty aromas of dried pineapple squares, bergamot and quince paste have to fight it out with some volatile paint and latex aromas that instantly take me back to a vivid memory of painting my grandfather’s back stairwell one summer 30 years ago. In the mouth, it has some of the same characteristics, with the funky latex and paint thinner thing going on beneath pure sweet flavors of sweetened pineapple, honeyed apricot and quince paste. The texture is viscous but the flavors seem light and airy. It manages to find a good balance of sweetness and acidity in all of that and ends with a long-lasting memory of fine quince flavor.
Overall, it was a wonderful evening. Troquet took great care of us and the food was outstanding. Kathleen was her usual delightful self and it was a pleasure to meet her charming daughter, Ashley. Thanks to Peter for setting it all up.
-Michael