From the Cellar

Night of the Living Pinots (Noir) - California / Australia / Ontario

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Category: Uncorked Tonight

(January 28, 2021) ... For some unknown reason, tonight I decided to open a few Pinot Noirs and see how they had aged - and one that I just knew was good:

Reata 2011 Pinot Noir, Napa & Sonoma County ... Smoky notes with dark fruit and spicy-peppery-licorice at its core. It slowly developed those older notes, but that pepperiness started to dominate, but there was a nice hit of acidity that continued all the way through ... Proved to be quite flavourful throughout the evening.

Pikes 2010 Lenswood Hills Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills ... Earthy, black cherry, licorice/anise and spice ALL make an appearance, but this one seems to stay the same all the way thru - with one of It's selling features being that good acidity - but the wine also gets kinda boring as it never really seems to change, develop or go anywhere.

My other bottle I opened was a Closson Chase 2017 Pinot Noir Churchside Vineyard from Prince Edward County, which was too young to really talk about in an "old wine" review; but it was one tasty wine.

Joel Gott 2015 Merlot (California)

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Category: Uncorked Tonight

(January 24, 2021) ... This Joel Gott has a California designation on the label, which means it's not single vineyard, not from any single AVA, It's just a blend of grapes that Joel picked up around the state of California and decided to make a Merlot. It has a juicy note but with a little spice to back it up. There's also some cassis, blackberry and black pepper which seems to dominate the core of this wine. After an hour there's a real nice smoothness and it's a beauty companion with the Dijon-herb pork chops I made for dinner. There's even a mocha note on the nose and red-burgundy cocoa on the palate, which helps to tie that cocoa note together. This is a tasty bottle of wine.