STEPHEN ROSS 09 PN CC
A few months ago, while tasting with several of our vendors, we came across a lovely Pinot Noir value. The wine was a bit tight, but showed great potential. We decided to wait a bit, let the wine come together, and see what it would become. This past week, we sampled the wine again, and it completely rocked our world!Owner/winemaker Stephen Dooley cut his winemaking teeth at such illustrious places as Louis Martini (Napa Valley) and Edna Valley. Having fallen in love with Burgundian varietals, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, he soon started his own label, and focused on those wines. Stephen only gets grapes from premier vineyards in California's Central Coast, used French oak barrels from the finest coopers, and his scrutiny of resulting wine quality (and which ones need to be poured down the drain) is something typically seen in wines selling for much, much more money than this! In short, you can see the potential in the wine just by reading this.
This Central Coast Pinot Noir comes from four vineyards known for top quality; Bien Nacido, Stone Corral, Kick On, and Chorro Creek. The wine is tight if you "pop-and-pour", but let it open up for 15 minutes, and you begin to see that this bright ruby-colored wine has an aromatic nose of spicy nutmeg and pastry dough, cherry and raspberry notes that are bright and lively, along with cola and forest floor. On the palate, the wine has some weight to it, yet it's still fresh, lively, clean and refreshing. The tannins are silky and fine and the flavors linger for quite a while. If you're not looking for a fruit bomb, but want something with complexity and definition, then this is the Pinot Noir for you!
