Milky garnet.  Heavy frankincense and myrrh with a minty strain of alcohol. So much tertiary bouquet, polished cassis and sullen blackberry.

Beautiful rich and rewarding cake and ice cream and grapefruit drizzle with acid to spare and tannin still marching.

Here’s the deal about these wines: I have been hard on them classically, to me they show badly in many instances and are often oxidized on so many presentations, but the right blends, the right bottlings, the right provenance and they just sing.  This is one of those. 15 yo and wonderful. This thing came straight from the cellar at 55* at the source and is easily my best experience with Hitching Post Pinot.

 I am surprised at the 14.5 because, well, not only is it noticeable in the nose and taste, it is a bit high for Pinot and I have gone on record MANY times saying Hi-Alc wines DON’T AGE.  This seems to be the outlier of that theory.

2002 HITCHING POST ‘Highliner’ Bien Nacido/Fiddlestix/Sanford & Benedict/Caragasacci Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County 14.5

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