Medium-dark garnet with bricking edges.  On the denser side of Pinot Noir.  Explosive matchsticks and spice and Alcohol and glycerin-ey sweet round oak.  Wet rubber-band earthiness.  A beautiful PN nose–if not a tad over-blown.  Comes on strong in the mouth but honestly it is a lot of sweet, ripe nuances framed with spice and oak and not true pinot fruit bordered with earthiness.  Def a crowd-pleasing PN.  Finishes smooth and seamless with acids and tannin all in check behind the rich facade.  There really are no flaws to it–unless you are a pinot purist/snob, and then you will find it shallow and cloying.  A well-made wine which pleases me all the way through–despite it being a bit huge.  It’s not huge like Bella Glos huge… more huge like Riverbench huge–managing to bring together most of the wonderful things about Pinot but in a larger, riper package.  Would we call this tourist-wine?  No.  Too expensive and to obscure.  Would we call this catering to the consumer-driven palate?  Yes.  But it is super-duper yummy!  And the nose continues to please–entry and finish–long after the glass has breathed out.  One word of warning–I tasted this 24hrs open and it was a madierized, oxidized pruney MUSS–which I can *kinda* see some of in–most importantly–the colour, and also in the extraction.  Purchased at Madeline’s in Cambria for the usual amount for pinot of this consideration-point.  14-5   ♦