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After being open for almost an hour (let this wine breathe - it's still a baby), great flavors of cherry, light berries, black tea, cedar and oak came out. The tannins are soft as the belly of a pot-bellied pig, and there's enough acidity to keep it bright and lively! This isn't the best pinot noir ever made, but for the money there aren't many better. If you can splurge for Saintsbury's 1999 Carneros pinot noir ($24), you won't be disappointed, but the Garnet deserves a solid WoW party wine recommendation.* While most pinot noir seems to be the wine of those living high on the hog, it's always refreshing to find a good one that you can buy without selling the farm. Cheers, * - WoW's party wine denotation is given to a bottle that you can bring to a party, and it'll make you look good -- but you won't be devastated if you end up not getting any. |
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If
you don't currently drink much pinot noir, my guess is it's because:
A) It costs way too much; or B) Because you don't like drinking
something that smells like a barnyard. Well, here's a pinot that
won't break your piggy bank, and doesn't smell much like a pig farm.
Much….
But here's the thing - the barnyard smell isn't so bad. I know it sounds ridiculous, but there's something charming about a wine that smells a little rustic. I actually love a pinot noir that has that classic bramble/barnyard nose. That element is in this wine, but the Garnet 2000 release from Saintsbury has little barn, and a lot of charm (and it apparently inspires poetry). The color of this pinot is true to its name: garnet, with an edge that turns just a little bit watery. The nose is a big bouquet of berries, wood, smoke and just a little tar (again, this isn't a bad thing - it doesn't taste like tar).
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