A ten-year-old Velvet Bee??? Who woulda thunk it. Where has the time gone?!? I was as surprised as you are… pulled it out, was like, Hey, haven’t had a Velvet Bee in a while–what is this one?–OMG 2012!!?!? Ruddy garnet in the glass, a spicy, briary nose with juniper berries and smoldering leaf-piles on cool fall mornings when a sweatshirt feels just right. Starting to do that *aged Pinot* thing–a little sharp petrol with gobs of graphite and pink eraser.
Mellow in attack and rich from below, layers of texture lay velvet fuzziness on the tongue while deep cherry plays along the foundation. Thin and sharp over the middle: fat slivers of acid coating peppery receptors, sharpening the calm earthiness and exemplifying California. Cool, foggy mineral grates down into the rasp of tannin, more pepper washing the fruit across grains of structure. Beautiful stuff. THIS IS STILL FOR SALE ON THEIR WEBSITE!
2012 VELVET BEE Pinot Noir Bentrock Vyd. Santa Rita Hills Santa Ynez Valley Santa Barbara Co. 14.21
Stephen McConnell 