Wednesday, March 22, 2006

2000 Castle Pinot Noir Los Carneros

Castle Vineyards has been around for about 13 years or so, owned and operated by winemaker Vic Williams. His story is one that is familiar to the Napa and Sonoma world, he was a professional in another industry in this case he was a pharmacist. He got into making wine slowly, a barrel at a time starting in the mid 70's but it wasn't until the early nineties that Castle had its official first vintage and was designated a commercial winery. Castle works a lot of small family own vineyards and Williams manages somewhere around 40 acres of vineyards throughout Sonoma and Los Carneros. Williams believes in a minlimalist approach which I appreciate, minimal interference, minimal oak, which creates VERY fruit forward wines. I have had a number of Castle wines in the past and have been pleased, by not only their taste, but their prices as well.
This particular Pinot Noir is from the Sangiacoma Vineyard in Los Carneros and weighs in at about 14.2% alcohol.
A nice light red or a dark Rose if you prefer when poured.
In the nose you can actually smell the alcohol which was somewhat disconcerting at first, along with that was hints of strawberry and earth. Tastes slightly acidic which took away some of the alcohol in the mouth, there was nice layers of strawberry, cherry, rhubarb, and a little bit of that cola flavor that Pinot is so well known for, even mildly sweet aftertaste.
A nice wine, one that I would give a grade of B.

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