Those that know me know I don’t rave easily. Not in my nature. Recently Vinexx held their portfolio tasting event at Seasons , a restaurant in Oakville that I’ve been going to for a long time. George and Tammy have done a great job with this place. I haven’t been for a while and love what they’ve done with the place. The venue was perfect for the tasting. The food from the shrimp skewer to the salmon wrap, to the goat cheese pizza were all amazing. And what a great setting for tasting this wine. Rolf, Alex, Connie, Johanne and the rest of the team did an awesome job! This wine was by far my favorite of the night.
Garnet in color with a lovely varietal pinot nose with some lovely earthy, and rustic notes. On the mid pallet the wine matches the nose with lovely earthy, varietal pinot flavors along with some strawberry. The wine has a lovely smooth finish medium in length. It’s very food friendly. I would give it a solid 90+. It’s $60 a bottle available from Vinexx by the case, sadly not in the LCBO. A nice glass of yumm, if you like Pinots!
From the winery’s web site:
Martin Ray planted Pinot Noir at Mount Eden in 1945. The budwood came from Paul Masson’s original vineyard near Mount Eden. Because Masson was a good friend of the Louis Latour family of Burgundy, it is likely the selection came from one of Latour’s finest vineyards and was brought by Masson to California during the 1880s. The faith Ray demonstrated in this difficult red wine variety, at a time when America had little appreciation of fine wine, was remarkable. Today, Pinot Noir vines occupy seven acres of our estate vineyard and typically yield a meager one to one-and-a-half tons per acre.
Pinot Noir is the first variety harvested at Mount Eden, kicking off the vintage season. Using natural yeasts, fermentation is conducted in small open-top fermentors and extends ten to fourteen days, with the must punched down by hand. The new wine is immediately put into 75% new and 25% one-year-old French Burgundy barrels. It matures for eighteen months before being bottle unfined and unfiltered. Nothing is added; nothing is taken away.
Due to the soils in the vineyard, the Estate Pinot Noirs’ elegant, transparent style is more Burgundian than Californian, emphasizing wild strawberry, earth, blueberry and dill varietal characters. Cellaring the wine from five to twelve years pays handsome rewards.
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