Martinelli Pinots

[John_Ammons]

I thought I would continue drinking and writing up some aged Martinelli Pinots. Tonight is night two for a bottle of Martinelli 2000 Three Colts Pinot Noir. Night one notes: Good fruit but tight. Austere relative to the fruity 2002 7-Mules I wrote about above. Night two: Way better. A pleasure. Nice balance and finish. Less fruit forward than 2002 7 Mules. Any other fans of Martinelli wines out there?

An almost 20 year old Martinelli pinot that took overnight to open up? Fascinating.

[Chris_Seiber]

I really don’t have a sense for pinot’s best expression. There are plenty of people who despise Martinelli’s high alcohol fruit bombs and prefer the earthiness of a Burgundy. I simply know that I really enjoyed this bottle of wine.

That makes way too much sense. Ban this guy.

[Juliec]

Paul, if you do organize a tasting, I’d give it a shot. I collect some CA/OR pinot’s and it looks like Martinelli uses similar clones although they are RRV. Let me know, I could try to acquire some or just bring a extreme Sonoma coast pinot that is fruit forward. … otherwise, will just enjoy reading some of the tn’s.

[Paul_Goldstein]

I thought I would continue drinking and writing up some aged Martinelli Pinots. Tonight is night two for a bottle of Martinelli 2000 Three Colts Pinot Noir. Night one notes: Good fruit but tight. Austere relative to the fruity 2002 7-Mules I wrote about above. Night two: Way better. A pleasure. Nice balance and finish. Less fruit forward than 2002 7 Mules. Any other fans of Martinelli wines out there?

An almost 20 year old Martinelli pinot that took overnight to open up? Fascinating.

To clarify. I open the bottle and keep it open during dinner. I then cork it and pump out the air with a vacuvin. I’m not exactly leaving it out to breath all night. I then do the same routine over the few nights it takes me to finish the wine. I’d say half the time the older Martinelli wines are better the second or third day. I suppose if I decanted the wine and left it in a carafe for a few hours that might have the same affect.

[Paul_Goldstein]

Paul, if you do organize a tasting, I’d give it a shot. I collect some CA/OR pinot’s and it looks like Martinelli uses similar clones although they are RRV. Let me know, I could try to acquire some or just bring a extreme Sonoma coast pinot that is fruit forward. … otherwise, will just enjoy reading some of the tn’s.

Juliec. Where do you live? I would be happy to organize a tasting and I have plenty of old Martinelli Pinots. I would simply ask that people chip in to cover the cost of the wines.

[Paul_Goldstein]

Yes, and I’m visiting the winery on Friday. Will report back if anything interesting. I was pretty much all in on Martinelli products around 15 years ago. Now it is mainly chards and zins, although the zins are really expensive. The pinots are just not my style; over the top. One that I like is the plain Sonoma Coast. It is around 14% alcohol and a nice drinking wine for the $.

James. I also drink a lot of Martinelli and Turley Zins. I have a separate thread for those wines. I thought I would try a few Pinots to give this thread some momentum. Hope to see you on the Zin thread.

[R_Smith1]

One that I like is the plain Sonoma Coast. It is around 14% alcohol and a nice drinking wine for the $.

Are you sure about this? The 2013 and 2015 Pinots are 15.2% alcohol.

[Juliec]

Paul, if you do organize a tasting, I’d give it a shot. I collect some CA/OR pinot’s and it looks like Martinelli uses similar clones although they are RRV. Let me know, I could try to acquire some or just bring a extreme Sonoma coast pinot that is fruit forward. … otherwise, will just enjoy reading some of the tn’s.

Juliec. Where do you live? I would be happy to organize a tasting and I have plenty of old Martinelli Pinots. I would simply ask that people chip in to cover the cost of the wines.

Midtown west would work best for me, but willing to meet where its convenient for ppl. Happy to chip in. I have some aged Patricia green and peay pn that I could bring also if that’s of interest.

[Paul_Goldstein]

Paul, if you do organize a tasting, I’d give it a shot. I collect some CA/OR pinot’s and it looks like Martinelli uses similar clones although they are RRV. Let me know, I could try to acquire some or just bring a extreme Sonoma coast pinot that is fruit forward. … otherwise, will just enjoy reading some of the tn’s.

Juliec. Where do you live? I would be happy to organize a tasting and I have plenty of old Martinelli Pinots. I would simply ask that people chip in to cover the cost of the wines.

Midtown west would work best for me, but willing to meet where its convenient for ppl. Happy to chip in. I have some aged Patricia green and peay pn that I could bring also if that’s of interest.

My goal would be to supply the wine. Or at least most of it. How do we get together a group of people? Maybe 8 or 10? Do we meet in a restaurant for dinner? How do we organize this?

[Juliec]

You would post on the offlines thread for an Martinellis theme tasting in nyc to gauge interest and the general ballpark of the cost to chip in for the wine unless they already have a bottle they have of Martinelli that they want to share. My only concern is that there may not be enough interest. Since you and I have been the main nycers posting here.

[James_Cross]

I made it to the winery on Friday in the midst of really bad weather. On the pinots, they were pouring mainly new releases. The 2017 Bella Vigna is sort of an entry level version at $45 (if that qualifies as entry level). I liked it but it was over shadowed by a couple others: 2017 Biondi Home Ranch (this is 15.5% and sells for $68) from the Green Valley area and the 2017 Zio Tony Ranch (15.3 and also $68) from Russian River. A friend favors the Moonshine Ranch but it was sold out at the winery.

I won’t go into the zins and syrahs here but they were WAY bigger. House style.

I double checked the Sonoma Coast version and it is labeled 14.1%. That kind of surprised me too and this is the first time I’ve seen that particular wine in this market (Las Vegas).

[PHuff]

I thought I would continue drinking and writing up some aged Martinelli Pinots. Tonight is night two for a bottle of Martinelli 2000 Three Colts Pinot Noir. Night one notes: Good fruit but tight. Austere relative to the fruity 2002 7-Mules I wrote about above. Night two: Way better. A pleasure. Nice balance and finish. Less fruit forward than 2002 7 Mules. Any other fans of Martinelli wines out there?

I drank many bottles of the 2000 Three Colts Pinot many years ago, I really enjoyed that wine. I haven’t had a bottle in a long time, glad to hear that it is still holding up well. I also enjoyed many 2000 Dehlinger Estate Pinot’s around the same time. 2000 was a cool growing season, not so great for Cabs, but excellent for Pinot’s…

[markjchambers]

2003 Zio Tony Ranch. It is the high alcohol (16%!) fruit bomb that everyone talks about. Like a piece of warm cherry pie. I shouldn’t admit that I love, but I do. There’s room in this world for this wine and Burgundy. They might as well not be the same grape - so different. It is interesting that recent Zio Tonys have been toned down (to 14%) and are a lot less jammy.

[Paul_Goldstein]

Bravo Mark. Sometimes a well made fruit bomb is a pleasure to drink. Please admit it. I think there are endless closeted fruit bomb lovers. There is nothing wrong with a simple pleasure.

[Paul_Goldstein]

I have one bottle of the 2013 ZIO Tony Ranch left. I look forward to drinking it.

[Paul_Goldstein]

Over the past few days, Drank a 2000 Martinelli Three Colts Pinot. Needed to be decanted. Hand lots of gunk. And better with some time to open. I prefer the 20 year old Martinelli pinot to a younger version. The wine has mellowed, is balanced, a little spicy, food friendly and a pleasure to drink.