FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
First impressions: We really wanted to try this wine since seeing episode #30(watch that episode here) on WLTV but it has been sold out since I began visiting WL. When it became available as a “Free Shipping” item at one point I hurriedly ordered two bottles. Only when it came did I notice that it was the 2006 vintage whereas the one GV tasted on WLTV was a 2003. Oh well, I learned a lesson about watching for that in future.
We immediately noticed how light the color of the wine was, which is normal for some Pinot Noir.
ON THE NOSE:
Grassy meadow in the morning mist with a mixture of fruit: peach, grapefruit, and kiwi. A grape-soda aspect coming through; not grape juice but soda, with the carbonation. Pizza flavors as well, with a little pickle?!? Also there is some starter fluid added, it appears. Later it opens up and improves to include some vanilla cream in fresh bed sheets, but no dirty socks, and not enough earthiness. Definitely something funky in there though, like a rot of some sort. Some don’t like this type of funk, but we do!
ON THE PALATE:
What IS that? Grapefruit, but not quite: grapefruit with some black pepper on it. Maybe a little bit of lemon peel thrown into the mix. Certainly this Pinot Noir has a medium-bodied mouthfeel, lighter so far than any other Pinot Noir we have tried, admittedly only a dozen. The back of the bottle says mint and Darcey exclaimed “I get the mint,” but I never did. To me this Pinot tastes an awful lot like the Sunday Mountain New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Darcey and I recently enjoyed, with the accompanying cat-pee aroma. In fact if you were to hold this wine under my nose, with me blindfolded, I would guess it is a white wine. A little bit of a soapy aspect in there too, or is this perhaps from my wine glass?
I’ve been very careful lately to rinse my wine glass out with good water that we get from a nearby spring before hanging it upside down in our little wine-glass rack. This has made a difference as I can truly smell dust and soap in wine glasses in other places, most notably the local wine merchants who offer wine-tasting every weekend. A glass can enhance or detract, this we have learned.
After a zesty attack the mid-palate resonates with some essence of grapefruited-charcoal before settling into a hurried finish that, well, finishes. To both Darcey and I mcuh Pinot Noir has a strange habit of ending just after the mid-palate, at the back of the throat actually; the taste just falls off a cliff and only faint hints of what you just had in your mouth remain, along with the aftertaste of a SweetTart, in this case. This Pinot is very much like this. Still, I like this wine, and Darcey does too. It is mostly honest, I think, not trying to be something it is not, not over-manipulated, which is one thing that really matters to us. But still … something in there bothers me too. Perhaps there IS a fakeness in there that is contrived by the winemaker, not naturally part of this once-again-popular grape. It’s that grape-soda thing, almost like grape pixie-stix without the chalkiness, but with some of that tartness. All in all, though, this wine is not obtrusive, grows on you, and would drink well at a dinner party, perhaps, but it’s just not one to write home about.
We’re rather sorry that we bought two bottles of this, but it IS always nice to have a bottle you don’t care as much about to bring to a party that you don’t really care about. Darcey and I feel like snobs often because we bring a good bottle with us, along with two wine glasses, to parties but don’t really feel like sharing. Maybe it’s the nature of some of these parties we are going to, but we don’t feel like filling other’s glasses to see it quaffed down in a hurry just to perpetuate the requisite buzz (and perhaps later regurgitated in the nearest trash can, or worse), without due appreciation of the elixir. No way Bubba! Call us snobs, I don’t care. So, maybe the second bottle of this stuff will go with us to the next party. But crap-a-dee-dee-dirt-on-yer-toes, we also feel it warrants better than that so … uh … OK, a school-night quaffer it shall be. It held our interest, after all, and MUCH more than the Maysara we tasted a few weeks back. It’s a really good $10 bottle of Pinot Noir, but you shouldn’t have to say it that way. We can’t hate this wine, it keeps asking us to like it more, and it indeed gets better as the night wanders into morning (or are we getting worse?), therefore we will refuse to force its end to insipid bedlam. It deserves somewhat better, we suppose. We shall drink it and pee it out, yes, that’s how it will find its way back to the earth! A cycle completed.
(Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...)
Our Rating: 85
Would we drink it again? 
Well, we bought two bottles, so we probably will try it again, but in general, no, this is not one we would drink again.
Would we buy it again?
Nope, this one won't get added to future orders. New Zealand seems to be the place to acquire very good Pinot Noir at half the price of North-American offerings, and often they come off even better. Sure wish that Winelibrary didn't sell out of the Hammond, that was our favorite so far, and very inexpensive. I sure hope future vintages of the Hammond are as good and as inexpensive!
