Found this little guy sleeping in the cellar and figured it was time… It’s really quite pretty stuff, still bright, transparent ruby at the core with just a hair of garnet next to the thin, clear rim. The subdued nose doesn’t sparkle with as much fruit as hoped, but manages a fair stuffing over layers of sultry burnt rubber and graphite. Nice chunks of polished black cherry and dark, stewed plum make for decent consideration with plentiful air.
In the mouth, dark, sweet concentration fill out the somewhat-tired score-card, fading into gorgeous rasp near the middle where touches of metallic drive the finish. For a 16YO wine at the lower end of their roster, it drinks clean and bright, but without any serious complexity to get super excited about. Just a nice easy wine aging flawlessly, where calm balance in youth clearly speaks volumes as to the lack of substantial tertiary or funky earth. Floral notes of dusty rose and wilted violet are the speaking-points pushing this wine prettily along. against still-apparent tannin. Probably could go another decade and 10/10 would buy again.
2006 INMAN FAMILY Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Sonoma County 14.7
Stephen McConnell 