White Rose Hand Select Pinot noir 09

Review:

The 2009 Pinot Noir White Rose Vineyard Hand Select was harvested from specifically chosen vines based on taste in Blocks 1 & 2 and fermented with 80% whole clusters. The wine was aged for 15 months in 100% neutral French oak. A complex aromatic array of earthy minerals, chocolate, cinnamon, clove, incense, and assorted red fruits leads to a mouth-filling, dense, rich, exceptionally lengthy Pinot that will provide hedonistic pleasure through 2021+.

White Rose Estate’s proprietor, Greg Sanders, loves whole cluster Pinot Noir and his 2008s were brilliant successes. He informed me during our sit-down that beginning in 2011 all of the wines produced from the estate White Rose Vineyard will be made with 100% whole clusters. Regarding the 2009s, he says, “There are wines here that I like better than the 2008s” and I have to agree with him.

New for November 2011