Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2018

Here at Mount Eden, we are creatures of habit. Much like a bird knows when to migrate, our knowledge of our climate and soil have ingrained a well-practiced harvest dance. This all came screeching to halt when, during our drought, Mother Nature had her own harvest plans. 2013 and 2014 were very early harvests that had us scrambling. We got wise to the “new normal” and were ready to go when the Pinot harvest kicked off on August 5th in 2015. The hardest part of making Pinot Noir is growing and picking at the ideal moment. The grape is so ephemeral that any overripe or under-ripe qualities will show themselves as the bottles age.

The signature of the 2015 is its freshness and lift. Poised boysenberry and earth tone flavors jump out on the palate. Buoyant acidity with a little tannin assist in giving a solid structure.

This is easily a twenty-five-year wine with good cellaring.

Production

940

Tech Notes

Yield: 1.5 tons per acre

Harvest: August 5th-10th

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.1° Brix, 3.3 pH, 7.9 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy 50% new, 50% 1 year

Bottling: August 2016, no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 13%

Reviews

96 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine - December 2018 (Best of Year Buying Guide)

Brilliantly fresh and snappy black raspberry aromas lead into a savory streak of mulberry-laced pork fat, hickory and tobacco smoke, with a hint of crushed slate on this wine’s fascinating and shape-shifting nose. Peppery spice grips the palate immediately, then splashes fresh red plum and pomegranate flavors around, finishing on white pepper, cracked nutmeg and unrelenting tension. —M.K.

96 points JebDunnuck.com - February 14, 2019

Seeing roughly one-third whole clusters and a mix of new and neutral oak, the 2015 Pinot Noir Estate is another terrific wine from this benchmark estate. Possessing a more structured, backward feel as well a deep powerful nose of black currants, charcoal, and scorched earth, this is a serious, age-worthy Pinot Noir that needs 3-4 years of bottle age yet will see its 20^th birthday in fine form.

94 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - August 31, 2018

The 2015 Pinot Noir offers notable depth and textural richness, but it is also very closed in on itself. The aromatics and fruit density are both hugely promising, but readers should plan on being patient with the 2015, as it needs time. Whole cluster inflections from the 35% stems add savoriness throughout. The 2015 is a fabulous wine in the making. Harvest began between August 8 and 10, which is shockingly early.

94 points View From the Cellar by John Gilman - July / August 2019

Jeffrey Patterson’s 2015 estate bottling of pinot noir is flat out gorgeous on both the nose and palate, and though the wine is unequivocally built for long and graceful cellaring, it is already very, very easy to drink! It comes in at a nicely ripe 13.5 percent octane and offers up a deep and very complex bouquet of black cherries, sweet dark berries, woodsmoke, raw cocoa, a great base of soil, a touch of black tea, lovely spices notes of nutmeg and clove and a discreet foundation of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, and rock solid at the core, with superb mineral drive, great length and grip, tangy acids, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and vibrant finish. This is first class pinot noir with grand cru-like palate authority! 2019-2060+.

93 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate  - February 2020, Week 1

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2015 Pinot Noir Estate offers up aromas of strawberry jam, raspberry preserves, charcuterie, rose petal, wild blackberries and Earl Grey tea leaves. In the mouth, it’s light to medium-bodied with minerally fruits framed softly by grainy tannins and integrated freshness, finishing long.—E. B.

88 points Wine Spectator - August 31, 2018

A solid, structured effort, offering a base of gravelly earth, limestone, sage and cedar flavors, with modest dried berry and underbrush tones. Best from 2019 through 2025. –JL