Pinot Noir

This is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir.  It was disgorged on October, 2017.  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has minerals, slight lemons and a bit of spice/oak.  On the palate, this has good acidity.  It has a lemon hard candy quality to it, that I find enjoyable.  Lots of energy.  Long finish.  This should drink well for the next five to seven years.  It will pair well with most foods.  

Graham Beck makes some great values in sparkling wines in South Africa.  This was the best one yet I have tasted.  It is a blend of 77% Pinot Noir and 23% Chardonnay.  The zero refers to the fact that no sugar is added to the wine to help a secondary fermentation.  Copper/gold in color.  The nose has some toast, and citrus/lemons.  On the palate, this is very clean.  Nice acidity.  Lemony with underlying minerality.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should continue for another seven to ten years.  It will go with just about any foods.  And, it is a great value.  

Always nice to revisit this wine.  This time it was in a tasting with other sparkling wines and tasted blind.  It started out quite tight and took some time to open up.  It continued to open up all night long.  it was the groups wine of the night though not mine.  Light golden in color.  The nose has a lemon/citrus quality to it along with minerals and slight ginger.  On the palate, the citrus carries thru with nice minerality.  Good acidity.  This is just starting to enter its peak period and  should be good for another decade or more before slowly starting to fade.  With the (better) 2008

This ubiquitous Champagne seems to be everywhere and sometimes, that means it can be easy to look past it (for wine geeks anyway).  It is quite good.  This is actually a special bottling to celebrate their 150th anniversary of their founding in 1869.  It is a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (30% to 40%) and the rest Chardonnay.  Golden in color with a bit of copper.  The nose is nice with toast, apple and slight ginger.  On the palate, this has nice full carbonation.  Good acidity.  Slight tannins.  Pears and apples.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should cont

This is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  It is 50% from 2013, and 50% from 2014 and 2015.  It was disgorged on 12/2017.  Silvery gold in color.  The nose is interesting with toast, pear, slight dried floral notes but also this interesting chocolate quality.  It took some time to open on the palate and continued to improve all evening.  Notes of pears with good acidity.  A slightly oily texture.  A bit clipped initially on the finish, that worked itself out with air.  This needs some time to develop.  It certainly should improve with a couple of years of good cellaring.  Then, it

Golden in color, slightly copper.  On the nose this has a bit of toast, slight ginger, and a bit of straw/yeast.  On the palate, there is some citrus.  Some strawberries.  Just a touch of residual sugar.  This seems to be showing some age and probably should be consumed in the next couple of years.  It will work well with medium or lighter foods, especially sea foods.  

Great label with lots of info.  The base wine for this NV wine is 2013.  it is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.  This bottle was disgorged on 04/2018.  It is also a really good wine.  Medium gold in color.  The nose has apples, honey, and slight ginger and minerals.  On the palate, this has a nice backbone of acidity.  Tart apple fruit.  Lots of depth and complexity.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should for at least the next five to seven years.  It will work with just about any food.  

This is an interesting blend.  It is 67% Flora, 19% Chardonnay, and 14% Pinot Noir.  Flora is a crossing of Semillon and Gewürztraminer that was created in 1938 by Harold P. Olmo at the California Agricultural Experiment Station.  Light golden in color.  The nose has seltzer, slight marzipan and peach.  On the palate, this is slightly sweet.  Apples and apricots.  Turns sweeter on the finish.  This is enjoyable on it own but would work with a not too sweet peach/apricot dessert.  Drink over the next couple of years.  

This wine (or at least this bottle) seems to be a bit better than a prior bottle which is saying a lot.  It mostly the difficult 2011 vintage but includes almost two hundred different wines going back to the 1995 vintage.   Forty-two percent of the cuvée is made up of Reserve wines.  The final blend is 47 % Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Meunier.

Peter Rosback will occasionally pull a barrel that is at a higher level and bottle it as a Reserve.  Such is the case with this bottle.  Deep ruby in color.  The nose is great with sour cherries, black cherries, baking spices and slight cedar.  On the palate, this has a great texture.  Lush, yet with plenty of vibrancy.  Juicy sour cherry fruit over some earthiness with a bit of char.  Good acidity.  Long finish.  This should continue to improve for five to seven years and be good for a decade or two after that.  It will work well with fowl or heartier sea food dishes.