A to Z 2005 Pinot Noir
Opened a bottle of A to Z 2005 Pinot Noir tonight with a ribeye which I prepared using a fantastic hawaiian seasoning (thai basil, maui sea salt, cane sugar, candied ginger). You can supposedly buy the seasoning from the Maui Culinary Academy (they make it) but their website is beyond horrible so I couldn’t find it to link for you. After the jump I stop yammering and get on with the wine review.This wine has what I would consider to be a fairly earthy/rustic smell (I’ve mentioned before that I love this), which to me yields to a relatively strong berry taste on first tasting, the fruit then gives way to a nice leathery finish.
Sometimes I read this stuff and I think, “you’ve got to be kidding me you’re really writing this way about wine?” I like to think of myself as more than a casual hobbyist (I have a few hundred bottles of wine in my cellar) but I also like to think I’m not your typical pretentious wine guy (I’ll drink wine out of box if the occasion calls for it, but don’t serve me white zinfandel). All of this said, sometimes these terms really do describe wines better than anything else I can think of, maybe that comes from reading too many wine magazines which make these words the first that hop into my head when I taste certain things. In an effort to explain this a bit better here’s a few things and how I see them, or rather taste them.
- Earthy or Rustic - This can be a taste or a smell, like portabella mushrooms or an old barn (I know this sounds like I’m saying the wine smells or tastes like horse-shit, and maybe I kind of am but somehow when you’re getting this in a wine it isn’t horrible like it sounds).
- Berries - You know what a berry is right? throw a bunch in a basket (different types) and smell it, thats what this is to me. Or cram them in your mouth, it tastes like berries but not necessarily a particular berry. If I think I get a specific berry or other fruit I’ll call that out specifically.
- Leathery - This ones a bit more tough, as for me I equate it with a combination of texture and taste, smell a leather couch and imagine what that would taste like plus add a slight “graininess” to it which seems strange but it’s not like it sounds either, but then it kind of is like it sounds too.