The robe is deep red garnet, and the rim is barely tawny, mostly clear. It smells like raspberries, cedar, cherries, sweet tobacco, tea. Opulently ripe and concentrated, the body offers more sweet bramble fruits, berries, and barrel spice.
The problem with this wine is not that it’s not delicious. The problem is that it does not read as Pinot Noir. I might have guessed California, blind, but from a warmer, not cooler, region. And the grape? Not Syrah, not Cabernet, not Grenache. Maybe Merlot? It reads as a wine scrubbed of distinctiveness by choices made in the innumerable steps from bud to bottle. It will age well. It has the stuffing. But then what will it be?
13.4% abv | About $80
