Wines Tasted - March 12, 2010

Pine Ridge Vineyards – Cabernet Sauvignon - Rutherford – Napa Valley - 2000 – (Modern, Drink Now) – Threw minor sediment.  Clear ruby with a slightly burnished rim.  Red cherries, red currants, baked red plums, cassis, cedar shakes, blonde caramel, tea leaves and light bourbon vanilla fill the nose.  It was dry, medium bodied, with medium tannins and a chalky/loamy texture.  Baked cherry, cedar and red plum round out the palette which has medium acid and a moderate length to the finish. 

Pine Ridge Vineyards – Cabernet Sauvignon – Stags Leap District – Napa Valley - 2000 – (Modern, Drink Now) – Bright medium ruby with a pale ruby rim.  A very enticing nose of black plum, black cherry, deep cassis, cocoa, black pepper, pipe tobacco and creamy vanilla.  Upon the entry the texture was incredibly soft, but built weight through the length of the long finish.  The tannins were sweet and ripe; the mid-palette was chocolaty and rich with black fruits.

Pine Ridge Vineyards – Andrus Reserve – Napa Valley - 2000 – (Modern, Drink Now) – A medium ruby core and a pale ruby rim are the segway to a developing wine with mature aromatics of red and Bing cherry, dried red currant and dried plums over coffee grounds, turned loam and cedary notes.  A medium bodied cabernet based claret with medium length, and medium tannins. 

Pine Ridge Vineyards – Andrus Reserve – Napa Valley - 2001 – (Modern) – Medium ruby/purple core leads to a slightly pale red/ruby rim.  This vintage offers up a nose of sweet black cherry, red plums and baked red currants surrounded by cocoa, baking spice, fresh roasted coffee beans, and sweet molasses laced with vanilla.  While the tannins were fine and loamy, the acidity was medium and alcohol balanced at 14.2%, all helping to stretch the finish to medium plus in length.

Pine Ridge Vineyards – Epitome – Stags Leap District - Napa Valley - 2000 – (Modern, Ager) – This wine was unfined and unfiltered and thus threw a tremendous amount of sediment; decant prior to service.

A clear medium plus ruby/black with a ruby rim.  A nose of ripe red cherry, red plum and cassis laced heavily with mocha and sweet spruce/vanilin note.  The entry was dry but the fruits were sweet and ripe with all above fruits and non-fruits confirmed.  The tannins were medium plus and rigid, as we’d expect from such a steep Hillside site with an ideal southern exposure.  A full bodied cabernet with a long finish.  I expect this wine to continue to mature for 5-7 more years, at least.

Pine Ridge Vineyards Staff Tasting - January 23, 2009

Staff Tasting Recap – Jan. 2009
By: Eric C. Maczko

On January 28th I led the first tasting of 2009: the Line up of All Current Release Wines
We had 18 attendees. Most were able to stay the duration. We even had a top referrer join us.
I began the tasting with a comparison of 2007 & 2008 Chenin Blanc Viogniers.
I followed those with a flight of Chardonnays: 2006 & 2007 Dijon Clones and 2006 Le Petit Clos.
The first two reds were: 2005 Carneros Merlot & 2006 Crimson Creek.
Then we covered the Cabernets two by two: 2005 Cabernet Franc & 2005 Onyx;
2006 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon & 2005 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon;
2005 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon & 2005 Epitome Cabernet Sauvignon;
2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon & 2005 Andrus Reserve;
2004 Fortis & 2005 Fortis were the concluding wines.

In revere, I found that both vintages of Chenin Blanc/Viogniers tasted great, but different due to acid/fruit profiles. But, one could conclude that the wine will age for 3 – 4 years successfully. I also noted that the Dijon Clones wines were remarkably similar, even now. That did surprise me. I found the 2006 Crimson Creek to be “early” in its bottle development, while the 2005 Carnereos Merlot was excellent, if a bit bulky, now.
The 2005 Cabernet Franc was less expressive than previous vintages as far as raspberry fruit, but more expressive in the bittersweet chocolate, cocoa and black cherry/dry sage arenas. The 2005 Onyx impressed upon me a solid, Rioja Reserva character, now that is a positive despite some people’s reactions to my observation. It was hearty, toasty, cedary and full of Zino Platinum Cigar qualities. Spice led fruit in the general state of affairs in the Onyx, and that’s why I feel it is always a cigar lover’s style or a Syrah lover’s style.
The 2006 Napa Cabernet was showing its Malbec component up front, while expressing firm wood based tannins through the finish. The fruit layers were evident as well as being pleasant. The 2005 Oakville was tight and firm with classic Napa character: black and red cherry, cedary toast, rigid tannins and ‘peppery’ spice-box. The 2005 Stags Leap District Cabernet was by-and-long the most fruit driven of the line-up, pumping out ripe black cherry, plum, cassis, and bursting blueberry character astride with fresh tobacco leaf, tannins were caressing yet firm. While it’s “brother”, the 2005 Epitome SLD Cabernet, was atomic with crushed red currant, fresh brewed mocha latte’ and green peppercorns: this is easily my crush for the vintage. The 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet was a full bodied, massively structured wine laden with black cherry, grilled blueberry, beef carpaccio, coffee grounds, and minerality only Howell Mountain’s Volcanics can deliver. The 2005 Andrus Reserve was so quaffable I had to repour myself! A Rutherford based wine from the vineyard of the same name, it showed elegance in place of power. The red berry mix was both ripe and balanced here. The 2004 Fortis was showing well. The full bodied, layered cuvee was all about cherry pie filling, spice and chocolate, while the highly anticipated 2005 Fortis was more about black cherry and plum with coffee grounds. Both versions of the Flagship Fortis were highly extracted, full bodied, and balanced while drifting slightly to the ultra modern.

July 26, 2008 Wines Tasted

Pine Ridge Winery - Epitome Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $100 - (Ager, Stand Alone, almost Modern)  For those of you who love black cherry, cassis, rose petals, mocha and coffee grounds in their Napa Cab, praise the Lord because this wine delivers on all fronts.  A full bodied, moderately Tannic wine comprised of 99% Cab(half a percent each of Petite Verdot and Malbec), from mature hillside vines of Clone 7, it will age gracefully for 10 to 15 additional years.  A terrific effort from Stacy Clark who has been at the helm for 25 years now. (380 Cases)

I had it with chilled, mesquite-grilled New York strip loin snadwiches; sliced thin over melted Fiscalini Cheddar and Arugula with plenty of Sel Gris.