Cristom Sommers Reserve Pinot noir 08

Previous vintage tasting notes:

"On the palate it has plenty of succulent fruit, good depth and concentration, and enough structure to evolve for 2-3 years. It will be at its best from 2011 to 2019 -90 pts" The Wine Advocate/Robert Parker

Previous Vintage Tasting Notes

Cristom Sommers Reserve Pinot noir 06 is initially subtle. Scents blossom with a couple swirls of the glass. Fresh red fruit and baking spice leads into sweet raspberry and currant flavors, while an expansive marionberry streak billows near the finish. Little bits of chewy earth and classic Eola-Amity hills herbal spice round out the finish. Cristom Pinots gain in complexity and elegance with proper cellaring, or for the impatient (like me), decanting.

From the winery: "this 2005 wine comes from a blend of ten different vineyard sites all within the Willamette Valley. Thirty five percent of the fruit comes from our own vineyard. The final blend includes the original Oregon clones of Pommard and Wadensville, along with some of the newer Dijon clones 113,114,115 and 777."

WINEMAKER'S NOTES This medium ruby colored 2005 Pinot Noir has a nose dominated at the moment with a plethora of exotic spices and herbs. Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, coriander, green tea, tobacco and gun smoke can all be found mingling with the fruit. The flavors are just as exotic with black cherries and currants overlain with savory dried herbs. Although this is a medium weight wine, it is multi-faceted and has adequate acidity and just enough grip to benefit from moderate aging. Steve Doerner, Winemaker