TNs: Recent Drinks

2005 Heartford Court Land’s Edge Pinot
I remembered this wine being candied and bright red. Not so much tonight. Darker in the glass. Dark and heavy nose of dark berries and a little sweat. The palate is brooding and ripe but not sweet as I remember. Not much heat. The finish is long and smooth. Either this wine has changed a lot in a year and a half or there was something strange about this bottle. Not bad, not what I was expecting.

2006 Black Ridge PN
At first the nose is oily, as I often experinence with New Zeland PN, but this one blew off to my surprise. There is a definite smell of caramel to this one but the palate shows little oak. Very pure berries and spice on the palate. Certainly not the kind of full throttle pinot I usually like, but this is the first um…delicate? pinot that ever makes me say wow. Great lingering finish. Garagiste.

SQN Over and Out PN
Ha! always a winner for me. Monster nose of ripe red and black fruits. A little heat in a good way. The palate is much of the same. Baking spices and ripe fruit sweetness evelop with air. There is a lot of fruit intensity that quiets down with air as well. This wine has years ahead of it but I like em young and rough. Great as always.

2005 Caymus SS
The nose is ripe and sweet. Not much more than red fruits. The palate is thick, velvety and again fairly sweet with some afterburner heat. A lot less tannic grip than I expected. Fairly simple actually, but very enjoyable if you dont want to think about it much.

2004 Rosenblum PS Heritage Clones
There has been significant change from the last bottle I had over a year ago. I love this the last time. Now the fruit is a little over ripe. Its lost whatever heat it had which actually foiled the roasted fruit taste in a good way before. Now its more like sweet motor oil. Dumped most of the bottle. May settle over time but Im out.

2005 Ghost block
Well, straight up cab. A little sweat, a fair ammount of cranberries, sour cherries and a little spice. Nice grippy tannins and little heat. Air sweetened and mellowed it. I still like this a lot for the price.

2006 KB Sonoma
Also has lost some of its sweetness. The last time I had it, about 6 months ago, it was reminiscent of a jolly rancher. Not so much now. Nice combination of sweet and tart berries. Great acidity. A nice dollop of cinnamon. Only a little heat was off balance at this point. With air it settles too. This was a lot better than last time.

I think thats all.

Glad I finished my bottles of the Rosenblum a while back. I was concerned about the aging curve. Of course, for that price, I wasn’t buying to age them anyway.

Thanks for the notes. I liked that 05 Ghost Block. I must have missed the 06 Black Ridge offer. I loved the 05. A great pinot at a great price.

Jason

Had it last night, I was told it was supposed to be an alcoholic monster but I thought it was drinking quite well, maybe a bit of heat on the finish but nothing bad. Seemed to be lacking a bit of complexity, though.