Clear medium ruby gradually thinning to an even pink edge. Brilliant briar, tree-root, coal fire and pungent bouquet garni balanced with a teensy bit of heat alongside myrrh and beeswax. Cracked walnuts and sautéed plums bring crazy–but not unpleasant–contortions to the sexy nose.
You know this thing is going to be elegantly fruited. You know it is going to be lush and full. I do NOT think it is going to be particularly low-alcohol. This is a bruiser, lush and rich no doubt–but missing ridiculous oak, thank Dog. My girlfriend was watching me on this one. She was just hanging out and saw me bring it up and open it and cram my nose into it and swish it around for 5 minutes without saying anything and finally she goes, “That bad?” to which I allowed the juice to wash through my mouth again for a minute and finally muttered, “This is the most gorgeous fucking Pinot I’ve had.”
“But we were just at BBQ in the Barn where you had _______ and ____ and ______!”
“Ok,” I said. “ONE of the most incredible pinots I’ve had lately. This thing is BRILLIANT.”
The thing is: It SMELLS like pinot. It TASTES like pinot. And at the same time, it is ripe and sweet and carries a little weight on it. Pinots are ALWAYS juxtapositions and conundrums–well, the good ones are–and this one pulls all the levers. I’m guessing 14-4, though. I think a lot of purists are going to be, like, too ripe, and to that I just say LOOK at all that gorgeous PINOT-NESS crammed in along-side it though!!! I could take you on a 15 minute drive from here and show you 45 pinots big and elegant and richly-fruited decadent 14-5 monsters jacked up on root beer and oak but they have no PINOT in them!!! They don’t have any of that nearly-undescribable magic which pinots MUST have.
In the mouth, a lush, heavy, decadent, syrupy entrance goes immediately thin acidity which melds seamlessly to instant ripe nectarine over the course of 1 second. At that point, all the nuances of the nose start chiming in as your brain starts catching up with your tongue. Bitter, burning, crisp, tangy, elegant, dripping, and nicely tannic. But still all that rich dark gorgeous fruit blast on through the night.
2015 DEUX PUNX Pinot Noir Elk Prairie Humbolt County 14.4
Stephen McConnell 