Easy transparent garnet in the glass, this Pinot from local Riesling- and Gruner-guru was a focal point of a recent tasting and I was excited to get a bottle home for closer study. Sultry, ripe nose pumps out soft cherry and smoky peat–all so mellow and elegant as to defy the light body.
Drinking it is equally easy, a smooth, round mouth-feel packed with supple lollipop berry. It swells to unimaginable concentration, bitter gristle chiming in with graphite and match-head into a ridiculously calm finish of slight vegetal and briar. It’s ripe, it’s sexy sweet and bristling with solid Pinot stuff. Find it. Quite possibly the most perfect 30-dollar example of this variety out there.
2020 MAIDENSTOEN Pinot Noir Central Coast California 14.1
Stephen McConnell 