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Now this is a 2002 Pinot Noir that will kick you square in the balls. Hands down the best Pinot under $50 that I’ve ever tried.Having never heard of these guys, I probably never would have stumbled upon this goldmine-of-a-wine had I not received a bottle of it as a gift this year on my Birthday. And what a surprise it was. This small, family-run winery specializes in handcrafted small-batch wines grown in the Sonoma and Mendocino County appellations… and this wine really flaunts the unique fruit that comes from this area.

Now everyone’s always raving about Oregon Pinots… and they’re right, there are some great Oregon Pinots. But this one stands up to any Oregon Pinot I’ve ever had and says “Screw You Buddy, I’m a Californicator, and I’m Gonna Kick You In The Balls!”

It’s a really smooth wine, rich and intensely fruity without a lot of oak in between you and the fruit. It’s heavier than most Pinots, it has more balls, more fruit and more intensity than the delicate Pinots you’re always reading about (or seeing in the movies these days). Fruit forward with a thick middle bordering on beer gut, and a soft finish. There’s no pucker factor here. It’s good now, and I can’t really see how it could get any better with age, so Parker’d probably knock it for that, but I’m saying the hell with that– this is a great wine, an outstanding wine; and since wine is made to be drunk not talked about and saved forever, I’m calling this Pinot an A+ wine. I feel like sort of a dick just flat out giving it a 100 point score right out of the gate, but I can’t think of anything bad to say about it. So I’m going to up and give this one 100 points, then deduct 5 for making me sound like an asshole because I like it so much.

Website: www.grapewagon.com
Where I Bought Some: www.winex.com

What They Say (the winemaker):

Harvest Date: September 23rd and 24th, 2002

Harvest Brix: 25.5 to 26.5

Appellation: Anderson Valley

Vineyard: Toulouse Vineyard

Clones:
Dijon 115 / 667 / 777

Yield: 2 ton per acre

Winemaking:
Grapes were hand harvested and hand sorted
100% de-stemmed
5-7 day pre-fermentation cold maceration
14-21 days total cuvaison
Native yeast fermentations and native malolactic fermentation in barrel
Aged 10 months in 100% French oak, 65% new
Bottled unfined and unfiltered on August 15th 2003

Coopers: Billon / Cadus / Damy / Francois Frere / Mercurey / Dargaud & Jaegle / Rousseau / Remond

Wine Composition: pH: 3.80

Titratable acidity: 0.52g/100ml

Alcohol: 14.9% (reviewers note: holy shit! that’s a lot forr a Pinot)

Production: 14.5 barrels (345 cases of 750 mL) produced

Release date: August 1st, 2004

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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