Taste: This wine is the same exact cuvée (same clonal assortment from the same vineyard blocks) we sold under the Lot 125 designation, the only difference coming from the vintage itself. That said, I find the differences in the vintages to be significant, resulting in a significantly weighty wine but with brighter acidity and higher-toned fruit than the 2007 Lot 125. The mid-palate weight is familiar (rich and grippy), and the fruit profile leans more toward brighter notes of cherry and raspberry versus strawberry and blackberry present in Lot 125. There’s a chocolate-covered cherry thing again that comes across in the palate, but the pH is just a bit lower in this wine, making it a little less dense but instead brighter across the palate. The wine is soft and supple, with a lingering finish of ripe, fresh fruit.
Again, like Lot 125, the grapes were moon harvested and hand sorted before a gentle de-stemming and 8+ days of cold soak. Aged in oak for 8 months with 40% new French cooperage (Remond, Demptos, François Frères), the rest all 1- to 3-year-old barrels.
Cameron Confidential: Same sourcing as Lot 125 from a high-end winery consortium with multiple facilities in Napa and Sonoma (not to mention OR and WA). Given the high price tag of nearly all their Carneros wines, they have excess fruit each year that they are making into wine for us under our guidance. This wine comes from their reserve program.
Staff Picks
Lot 176
2008 Los Carneros Pinot Noir
- Vintage: 2008
- Appellation: Los Carneros
- Grape: Pinot Noir
- Alcohol by volume: 14.5%
- Production: 2,750 cases
- Release date: August 12, 2010
- Online availability: Sold out
Downloads
- Lot 176 spec sheet (pdf)
- Lot 176 small notes (pdf)
- (pdf)
