2015 Vincent Pinot Noir Eola - Amity Hills- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (11/1/2017)
Dark ruby translucent color for pinot noir. Concentrated dark cherry, pomegranite, acid and some earth on the nose. Hits the tip of the tongue with dark tart cherry fruit and acid, tannins and some subtle spice. Finish is long and complex with earth, spice, and acid. Its a baby and it needs some time. It evolved in the glass over 4 hours… The last sips at the end of the night it started to unwind and the fruit really started to come out. This wine will improve over the next 5-10 for sure but reminds me a bit of amazing pinot from the Lester Family Vineyards in Corralitos, CA (Santa Cruz Mtns). Amazing QPR Vincent. Visitors from Santa Barbara loved it. I am excited to watch this one evolve. (93 pts.)
Just seeing this note, glad it’s showing well. I love the ‘15s in general and this one is no exception. For those keeping score, this bottling is mostly Bjornson vineyard and the west block at Silvershot vineyard, with a bit of Zenith and Temperance Hill in there too.
I had a bottle of this while in Portland over the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised. While I’ve found many other 15s too sappy/candied/sweet, this was not. Definitely ripe sweet fruit, but not over the top. And impressive structure for the ripeness. Mind you, this was out of a coffee cup (with lid) at the hotel pool, so not ideal tasting conditions, but it was enjoyable and the differences from other 15s I tasted definitely did show.
Coffee cup with lid is actually the specific Riedel recommended shape for this wine!!
Seriously, this one is a good example of how 15s (in my cellar anyway) have lovely ripeness with fine structure at very modest alcohol. 12.2% from a lab sample done after the labels were run.