The Brown truck arrived today with a box full of these.  They were on sale so I decided to pull the trigger on 6.  I probably should have let this one rest a few days, but there are more in case it shows poorly.

Slightly more opaque than what I was expecting from Pinot Noir.  The nose is airy and uplifting, with strawberry, that certain Pinot scent that I get and some elderberry.  The palate is exactly what I was expecting, New World all the way but not in a powerful, jammy way.  Smooth strawberry with a lithe vanilla stripe and more of that wild berry fruit.  The acidity is on pointe, just a nudge every now and then.  The mouthfeel is great with some ever so slight tannins swirling around.  Cherry/Strawberry cooler happens on the finish with that sourness that is really okay in Pinot.  My mouth feels a tad dry from the acidity/tannins when it’s all said and done.  I like this wine and am serving it with some smoked pulled pork that I just finished.  The acidity is perfect to counter the fattiness and smoke from the meat.  I’m going with 90 points here and for the $11 I paid, it’s a 5 star wine.  Drink now till 2024.  Salut….

I took Moxie out for a late supper last night at our local Korean/Cajun fusion restaurant called Mokomandy.  We were deep in conversation when the drink order was up, so I asked the waiter what he would recommend and ended up with this Willamette Valley Pinot to go with our eclectic dinner.

It’s funny how some wines taste a certain way to some people, yet others have totally different opinions.  Here we go…

Pinot Purple in the glass, with the telltale see-through hues of a this fickle grape.  Red fruits and a straw component hit me on the nose, I was excited to discover what shade of ‘New World’ this wine would be.  I immediately got sour cherry, strawberry and cranberries on the initial attack, and when I say sour- yowsah….  This wine is most definitely Oregonian in style with some bracing acidity and melded tannins.  The finish was decent with a lingering note of forest floor and strawberry.  The acidity was a little too much for me, making the wine seem a tad off-balance.  I bet it will hold up well in the cellar though and perhaps come out strong in a few years.  Back to the differing of opinions- the winemaker’s website claims flavors of blackberry and black cherry with peppery notes.  I went the other direction with red fruits and certainly no pepper, interesting.  89 points from me for this tasty effort and 3 stars for it’s $22 price tag.  Salut….