Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2017

All of our estate vineyards are dry-farmed, and because of this we diligently track precipitation. A mere fourteen inches of rain fell during a nail-biting “rainy” season, forcing us to severely reduce output on our Pinot Noir vines due to drought-stress.

This fruit kicked off the 2014 Harvest on August 4, an unprecedented early start.

Our Pinot Noir is a natural wine reflecting the place and the vintage. The crop may have been small, but the concentration and depth correspondingly increased. Classic blackberry/raspberry aromas greet you along with a deep ruby color. On the palate, great balance and acid/tannin tension continue. Despite the considerable concentration of red fruit, the all-important element of freshness is in abundance.

Optimal drinking is 2021-2031.

Production

756

Tech Notes

Yield: 1.0 tons per acre

Harvest: August 4th-13th

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.8° Brix, 3.6 pH, 7.0 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy 75% new, 25% 1 year

Bottling: October 2015, no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 13%

Reviews

95 points JebDunnuck.com - August 24, 2017

Seeing one-third whole clusters and 12 months in barrel, the 2014 Pinot Noir Estate has a subtle, nuanced style as well as terrific notes of dried strawberries, red currants, spice-box and forest floor. It’s elegant, seamless and silky on the palate, with fine tannin and impeccable balance. Give it a few years to develop more complexity (although I’d happily drink it today) and it’s going to keep for 10-15+ years.

95 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine - December 2017

Wild strawberry and plum mix with subtle yet sultry notes of nutmeg, mace, loam, graphite and game on the nose of this bottling. Sizzling acidity leads the palate, carrying cherry, plum and red apple flavors, followed by layers of eucalyptus and pine forest. —M.K.

95 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - Interim End of May 2018

The 2014 Pinot Noir Estate from Mount Eden is beautiful, wafting from the glass with aromas of red cherries, potpourri, mountain laurel, forest floor and cinnamon. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, ample and layered, with velvety tannins, succulent acids and lovely length and grain on the tangy finish. Follow this young classic for the next 15 years. —W.K.

93+ points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - August 31, 2017

The 2014 Pinot Noir is a pliant, deep and expressive wine. Sweet red cherry, rose petal, mint and wild flowers gradually reveal themselves, but the wine needs a few years in bottle to shed some of its baby fat and for the tannins to soften. In this vintage, Mount Eden’s Pinot Noir is a wine of real gravitas and power, with perhaps a bit less of the immediate charm other recent vintages have shown.

93 points Wine & Spirits Magazine - December 2017

Jeffrey Patterson is committed to dry farming his vines, and continued through his third year of drought, when his vineyard received a total of 14 inches of rain for the season. He sustained his vines by limiting their crop, and decided to pick those concentrated grapes starting on August 4^th, the earliest harvest in the estate’s history. Yet despite the extremity of the season, the wine feels gracious and refined. It has the cool feel of the air in a coastal forest, mossy and piney, lasting on an earthy savor. The texture is firm and juicy, while the wine isn’t overtly fruity. This should be a fascinating vintage of Mount Eden to watch as it develops over the next decade.

89 points Wine Spectator - Web Only 2017

Bright and lively, with zesty raspberry, cherry and subtle earth flavors and light oak shadings, ending with savory underbrush notes and dusty tannins. Drink now through 2022. –JL