St Innocent Pinot noir Shea Vineyard 06 |
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St. Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot noir 2006 received 94 points from Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 2006 Pinot noir Shea Vineyard is a candidate for Shea of the vintage as well as my choice in this portfolio. It is the richest, most concentrated, and complex as well as the best balanced, nicely concealing enough structure to evolve for 4-5 years, about as much as one can expect from this vintage. It should be at its best from 2012 to 2021."
The St Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot noir 06 impresses with its intense, fruit-driven, flavor-laden, big-bodied nature. The color is a dark, saturated garnet-ruby, and texturally, the wine is fleshy and concentrated. As with the best 2006 Oregon Pinot noirs, this is a succulent, opulent wine, immediately impressive and well worth cellaring.
In keeping with the Shea Vineyard style, the St Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot noir 06 is velvety smooth with dense notes of earth, pipe tobacco and fresh ripe blackberries. Supple layers of boysenberry and wild cherry add to the melange of rich flavors. Mark Vlossak consistently produces one of our favorite Shea Vineyard bottlings.
Winemaker Mark Vlosak says:
"This Shea is a dark ruby color. Its nose is layered with dark spices, wild flowers and black fruit aromas with hints of tar and wet earth. You are immediately struck with the intensity of dark sweet fruit and very intense raspberry extract flavors. Texturally this wine is extremely dense, in keeping with the essential nature of '06 Oregon Pinot noirs with loads of sweet, ripe tannins. This is a powerhouse wine dressed in Escada. A soft and fresh acidity carries the bright fruit layers into the finish. I expect it to develop for more than a decade.
A small amount of 2005 vintage St Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot noir is still available. Please call to order (541)-752-7418. |
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Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews: |
| 2005 Vintage Tasting Notes
Make no mistake, this is a big wine but with grace. Incense, Asian spices, classic Shea violets, and dark fruit waft from the glass. Loads of dark, creamy fruit—blackberry, plum, black cherry—are complemented by toast and lively acidity. It’s tasty now, but if you can wait another year or two you’ll be rewarded. If you like Shea wines (and we do), this is a must-have. - Marcus Mark says: "This Shea is a dark ruby color. Its nose is layered with dark fruits, orange peel, and dark flowers with spices underneath. The initial flavors rich with red and black raspberries, dried flowers and spice. With air, the '05 Shea reveals substantial layers, depth and density. Texturally, ripe tannins coat your tongue with hints of oak and fresh acidity that carries the fruit layers into the finish. I expect it to develop for over more than a decade." - Mark Vlossak, winemaker Previous Vintages Tasting Notes Wine Advocate 93 points for 2003 vintage I ended up with four pages of notes on this wine when we tasted it at the store. Unheard of- but it's soooo good. Starting off, the wine has an opaque, dark ruby color. Not quite as dark as the 2003 vintage. Immediately after opening (and this is a young wine) the scent filled the air. Crushed fresh fruit, black cherry, raspberry, black currant, fresh marionberry, a bit of fresh strawberry and hints of fresh saddle leather and just a smidge of toast make up the initial scent impression. And under all the scent elements, that Shea Vineyard characteristic, a dark violet floral perfume. Flavors are bold and clearly still young, with lots of room for even more complexity. Big black cherry and berry fruit, sweet cherries and plum, black currant, and that Shea undercurrent of dark violets persisted in the flavor as well as the scent. The finish is quite long, and the tannins are very fine, present in good balance for cellaring purposes but not obtrusive. In the finish there are pleasant notes of vanilla, a tiny bit of spice, cedar, and some barrel toast, around which the dark violet perfume and dried rose petal flavors circle. For customers who enjoyed the Shea Wine Cellars Block 23, now sold out, here is a similar offering with the same forward fruit and violets in the initial impression. The midpalate of the St Innocent Shea is a bit more delicate than the Block 23, with more transparency in the layers of flavors, and lots of spicy cherry and cola in the midpalate. Throughout the impression of the St Innocent, the sweetness of the fruit is balanced by a fresh, uplifting acidity enmeshed with black raspberry. The St Innocent Shea 04 complements sweet meat entrees such as lamb chops, fillet, and grilled salmon When served young, it's best to decant and allow the wine to breathe for several hours before drinking. The wine is drinkable now and will benefit from aging up to 8 years. Harvested at 1.9 tons/acre, destemmed grapes were fermented in two small tanks after a few days of cold maceration. The wine aged for 16 months in 41% new French oakbarrels and was bottled after a light gelatin fining. |
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