A Birthday Dinner (Ontario / California)
19 Sep 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(May 10, 2012) ... My wife is having a birthday, or at least we're celebrating it tonight, and because she digs on sparkling I opened a bottle of Coyote's Run 2009 Pinot Noir Rose Sparkling which still has lots of strawberry pith notes, though age seems to have tamed this one a bit because you can smell and taste its lack of freshness, but it's still tasty with good acidity with a slightly bitter finish. Heck it's bubbles.
I then opened a Michael David 2006 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel and this thing is a beauty. Nose is still loaded with plum, black cherry, mocha, and smoked meat (which is awesome to find in Zin); flavours are very intense with white pepper, spiced plum, black cherry and a touch of vanilla.
(May 7, 2015) ... Now, if memory serves this is one of those special wines that benefited from an off-vintage. In 2006 Portugal the harvest in some parts was not up to par, and so Alianca (producer) didn't make some of their special single vineyard wines, and those vineyard's output ended up in this 'lower end' wine, thus upping the quality ... And what it has done for the age-ability of this wine is truly amazing. Nose is still all red and black fruit with hints of herbal and clove. The taste keeps all the fruit found on the nose and deliver it to the palate along with a touch of herbal and peppery notes, then adds nice tannins, cocoa, and spiced-raspberry to the finish. A pure delight of a wine, surprisingly still delicious and with plenty of life left ... But maybe not so surprising considering the story I told you at the beginning.
