Jessie James Vineyard Pinot Noir

Gorgeous and best JJ ever. Nose is full of mid season cherries, spice, gentle wood shavings from woodshop when one was a kid. Really aromatic and alluring. Really huge spice. So so aromatic and casts a spell on you. Palate is so juicy and full of life. Sweet and sour cherry fruit and big time acids and wonderful structure and purity. This needs mega mega air. The sweetness on the finish and mid is to just die for and then gets tamed by the incredible acidity and mineral spine.

Medium Ruby color with aromas dark red fruits, black tea and ample floral spice, aged in 8% new French oak for 21 months. On the palate flavors of black cherry, blackberry and plum with tobacco, cedar, black pepper, tea and vanilla spice. Soft fine tannins, long finish, well balanced with acidity, ending with fruit, herb, spice and flinty wet stone mineral character. Nice! Organic!

A bottle Evan left me to study for some days. This is the best wine Evan has ever made. Stunning nose of blackberry, blackberry coulis, ripe black and red cherries, a lovely herbal element and tree bark. Much more to reveal but I love the aromatic precision and depth here. Palate is just so nimble, fresh and complete with rocking acidity and minerality. Super engaging and just so precise. Really amazing vintage for Evan. So complex and with noble structure and amazing sapidity. So pure and so complex but has more and more to reveal. 9.5 after PNP. Let’s see where it goes. Terrific acid driven and mineral finish. Now with air the spices start developing on the nose. Dizzying. Palate is filling out and gaining more amplitude and opulence but the acid and minerals are right there. What a finish! On day 2 this is a 9.6 now with so much energy and vigor.

Blackberry, blackberry coulis, dark cherry, intense florals. Violets. So gorgeous. Stunning nose. 9.7 nose. So fresh and elegant with terrific acidity. So complex and engaging. Super young but man oh man what potential. Super complex finish. Inner mouth aromas. Terrific inner mouth aromas. Really engaging mid palate. Spicey, structured and fresh. So so long. Acid is on point. Wait 5-7 years. Really opens up on day 2. Creamy mid palate but still so much tension. Beautiful finesse. Best wine Evan has ever made. Almost 9.7. Nose is so complex with unreal forest/herbal/spice elements. Gorgeous Black cherry. So vivid. Palate is so focused and rich get tempered and restrained. Extraordinary fruit quality. This is a 9.7.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard lifts with a finessed blend of dried black cherries and rose petals offset by dusty stone and hints of lavender. This is lifted in feel, with textures of pure silk engulfing the palate in a cloak of ripe wild berries as savory spices and touches of blood orange slowly drench the palate. It finishes long yet fresh, displaying a peppery tinge as a web of fine-grained tannins lingers, and a minty freshness slowly fades. There's a lot of potential here, but patience will be required. (Eric Guido, Vinous, January 2024)

Excellent really. Sweet Pinot Fruit. Cherry 🍒 mostly. Just 13.5%. Very refined. Like a Burgundy at a much better price point. Planted in 1996 to Pommard, Wadenswil and 114. Dry farmed! Needs at least 2 hours of air. Teanotes, … fresh! In my book one of the top 10 Pinots in the US.