Saturday, April 21, 2012

2008 Flowers Winery Pinot Noir Sea View Ridge Sonoma Coast


Winechat a weekly gathering of extremely knowledgeable winos happened to be right up my alley this week. Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast vs Russian River Valley with my friend Grace (cellarmistress on twitter) leading the discussion. Following along, the AVA most consumed this evening was RRV Pinot so naturally I was in the minority with my Sonoma Coast from Flowers Winery. Honestly if you were to pole 25 everyday wine drinkers and ask them where pinot comes from I will venture to guess at least 20 will respond with the RRV (lets not forget our Oregon producers). Not so fast my grape loving friends.

Sonoma Coast pinot to me showcases the cooler coastal climate (although my colleagues will remind me that in some vineyards right next door is carneros where the temp can be warmer) with lighter bodied wines yet flavor packed. I find them also less burgandian, more fruit (strawberry/cherry) and less of the earthy mushroom characteristics. Both regions produce award wining wines and either are an excellent choice.

Enjoy how this bottle of Flowers evolved compared to the same vintage I tasted a year ago. Red ripe cherry with subtle hints of cinnamon spice and cranberry. Strawberry rhubarb rounds out the aroma's. The fruit is bright and extremely pleasing.

Wonderful flavor of strawberry with hints of the ripe cherry and cranberry. Just as I found with swirling the wine, the spice was faint and an excellent compliment to fruit. The finish was long and juicy begging you to fill your glass up often (never a problem here).

Want to learn more about winechat tune in 9pm eastern 8pm central or 6pm pacific on twitter hosted by Marie Payton using hashtag #winechat and follow along in the discussion. Hope to see you there.

Cheers
Dan

1 comment:

Dan G said...

Amazed at how this wine changed. Last year the earthy jammy characteristics were front and center and a year later a more soft pinot with the fruit being showcased. It's why I try to taste vintages in time blocks. You learn how these babies evolve.