1) 2006 Copain “Wentzel” PN
Mature medium/dark red with amber at the edge.
Dusty, Mac Apple nose with undertones of Quinine.
Firm, dry Bing Cherry entry led to a steely, stony finish.
Very good, but not great.
Should be consumed soon, IMO.
[90 pts]
2) 2006 Copain “Cerise” PN
Bright medium/dark crimson with onion skin at edge.
Fabulous nose of cinnamon apple pie with smoky undertones.
Ultra spicy, minty, earthy, cherry fruit with an endless finish.
I love most bottles of the 2006 En Haut, but this pup noses that wine out by a smidgen.
This can still age and improve.
An AWESOME CA Pinot (In the top 5 I’ve ever had).
[97 pts]
3) 2007 Copain Kiser “En Bas” PN
Medium/dark red with amber edge.
Fine nose of black cherry and mint with plummy undertones.
Smooth, elegant berry fruit entry led to a dry, slightly diluted finish. This particular bottle would have been better consumed a couple of years ago, but is still tasty.
[89 pts]
IMO, judging from all the Copain PNs I’ve had over the last decade,
the 2006 En Haut and Cerise are far and above, the greatest.
They remain sterling examples of what heights CA Pinot Noir can achieve.
Nice notes, Paul. I’ve been drinking through my 2006-2007 Copains over the past 18 months. I definitely prefer 2006. The Cerise may well be the best of the bunch. I find the 2006s have nice character and mouth feel. The 2007s just leave me disappointed. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were acidified; they’re just not developing in what I would expect in terms of texture. But 2007 Cali Pinot in general I think is the worst vintage in the past 10-12 years.
TG,
The one exception I forgot to mention is the 2007 Copain “Hacienda Secoya”.
It is a killer wine very close in quality to the aforementioned 2006s’.
Have you had it?
If I recall correctly '07 was the first vintage after wells had his epiphany and went AFWE. So huge stylistic differences with the 2 vintages if memory serves.
Wow Tom I could not disagree more. Across the board for me the '06s never really got any better in bottle with only a few exceptions for CA PN. I would say 2007 was a contender for vintage of the decade. Both had potential for large crops, especially '06, so if crop load was not kept in check unexciting wines could come from both vintages. Especially in '06 in RRV and SC there was tons of rot in vineyards that had large crop loads.
BTW Tom, it Joe formerly of Swan when we first met, you know the guy who started Joes Drinking Buddies! ps I still have one pentagon in my cellar!
Good topic. Had the 07 En Bas the other night and it still is holding in there but it’s as good as it will get and my opinion on the En Haut is that it’s past peak. The 2007 Kisers for me were excellent when younger but in my view the ripeness of the vintage has caught up and both wines are not going to hold up for the better. I still have some 2006s, been over a year since I had them but in last check, a couple of them were starting to gain some aged qualities and were becoming cool. Tree and Wentzel, I believe.
As a tangent but I suppose related, the 2010 and 2012s could be shining examples for the new era Copain. The 2010 En Bas was excellent last year, very youthful and the 2012 Combe de Gres is even better, but so youthful and in need of time.
Paul – I have had the 07 Hacienda … but it’s been a while. I think I’ve got one more bottle left, but I recall it had a bit more delineation and interest than some of the other 07s. I just marvel at how so many wines from that vintage flattened out.
No, we’re not allowed to disagree! 2006 was a tough vintage with the frost, but I felt like a lot of my traditional picks surprised me … Swan, Selyem, Rochioli, Siduri, Holdredge, WesMar, etc. … all making really pretty wines that have aged well. I wish I had more of them in my cellar. The 2007s, to me, started out fat and appealing, but, with some notable exceptions (Rochioli and Swan, in particular, stand out as having made really great 07s), the vintage on the whole just turned flat and flabby to me. I don’t get why. But the way California Pinot has trended in the decade after, I think 2005 and 2007 point to winemakers learning extremely important lessons and making consistently better wine year in and year out, regardless of conditions. There hasn’t been the same push to a single style in either direction. There’s a greater understanding on a wider scale of making the wine the vintage gives you.
That’s a short answer to a complex question, and I really need to take the time to put together a fully thought-out response!
To my mind, I think it was more winemaking than weather. 2007 was one of those “make wine any way you want” vintages with great weather. So there was a lot of hang time, but at a point where winemakers were just beginning to realize that maybe you didn’t need to go SO ripe. Some of the wines were definitely let to hang, watered back, and had acidity added. And they haven’t held up. Some of the more classic wines just did their thing, and they’re great. But it’s almost like 2007, to me, was a transitional year where maybe there was a lack of confidence to make wine one way or another. Caught between the massive heat of 2003/2004 and the curiously cool summer of 2005.
SCM … wouldn’t say I’ve had the same experience with the Rhys wines I’ve drunk. They are very good from 2007, although I think they hadn’t quite gotten as refined a handle on whole-cluster inclusion that they do now.
Also, and this is just totally random … I have had an inordinate number of corks from 2007 California Pinots break on removal. Probably a dozen or more. It’s bizarre.
Paul and Russ – I’ve experienced some breakage in 2006s, but not the same high rate as 2007. Totally weird. I’ve gone to just using the Durand on most 2007s!
I interviewed Wells way back when for my blog and he told me he made the style change for pinots as of the 2006 vintage, and in the 2007 vintage for syrahs.
Had my second (and last) bottle of the 2007 En Bas.
This bottle proved to be drier than the first.
Both bottles had good fills and perfect corks (unlike some of the 2006s’).
I have to conclude that these must be consumed ASAP…
I opened a 3L of the '06 Cerise for my Son’s wedding back in September and it was incredible. Incredibly young still as well.
Wells opened a mag of it when we had the High Rock Ranch lunch with FMIII a few years back and I remembered Wells saying it was one of his favorites. When the 3L came available I jumped right on it.
Great thread, and “Made me Look”. Drank all my En Bas years ago BUT Looks like I still have a few bottles of each '06 and '07 “En Haut”. Any data points on these? I am going to mentally put them into an On Deck Position to be drank soon. Happy to report back to this thread with their performance.
Gary,
The 2006 En Haut can be absolutely great.
There is some variation between bottles. (I’ve sampled over a dozen bottles)
However, even the “worst” example is still very fine, so I’m confident you will enjoy it.
The 2007 En Haut has not developed nearly as well and should be consumed soon. (Very soon)
If you do a search on my name highlighting topics, you will find many notes on 2006-2007 Copain Pinots.
You might want to search under Frank Murray’s name as he too is quite familiar with these wines.
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2006 was a tough vintage with the frost, but I felt like a lot of my traditional picks surprised me … Swan, Selyem, Rochioli, Siduri, Holdredge, WesMar, etc. … all making really pretty wines that have aged well. I wish I had more of them in my cellar. The 2007s, to me, started out fat and appealing, but, with some notable exceptions (Rochioli and Swan, in particular, stand out as having made really great 07s), the vintage on the whole just turned flat and flabby to me. I don’t get why. But the way California Pinot has trended in the decade after, I think 2005 and 2007 point to winemakers learning extremely important lessons and making consistently better wine year in and year out, regardless of conditions. There hasn’t been the same push to a single style in either direction. There’s a greater understanding on a wider scale of making the wine the vintage gives you.