2005 Ken Wright Cellars Elton Vineyard Pinot Noir

[dananne]

If I haven't said so already, for our tastes, Ken Wright makes the best Pinot in the U.S. Everything we've had from him has always shot up to the top of our list of favorite wines of all time. This was likely the best wine we've had this year.

It's the first time we've tried his Elton Vineyard wine, which comes from a tiny, 1.1 acre site at the Northeast tip of the Eola Hills, and the vines are pretty old Pommard clones, planted back in 1983.

Gorgeous nose that filled the room with complex aromas of plum, smoke, bacon fat, and a hint of barnyard. Decanted 30 minutes before 1st pour and through evening. Dark reddish-purple in color, with rich, expanding, mouthfilling flavors of plum, crushed raspberries, and earth, with a finish that brings in some red spices and cola. Very balanced, with good acidity, polished tannins for structure, and a sensible alc. level of 13.5% that keeps the weight to that which is (IMHO) appropriate for the variety. Ran about $50 locally, though you can't find any on the shelves down here -- one of my local haunts took in a few half cases as the only allocation in the market, and I bought a third of that for Anne for a Christmas present. Anne says, "Give this a few years of bottle age and it'll have the best Burgundy crying for its mommy." Couldn't say it any better myself. Great juice, and a nice way to celebrate Anne's birthday.

[Innkeeper]

Happy Birthday Anne!

[TheEngineer]

Happy B-Day!

[Kcwhippet]

Happy Birthday, Anne!!!

[winoweenie]

Happy Happy there Anne. Hope all is good. Was with several of my buddies from Atlanta in Vegas. Guess theres' a cold snap down south. They were basking in the 75* weather during the show and I talked to one of them last nite and he said his furnace went kaput so they were in bed when I called. The furnace repairman was coming at 9 last nite. Hopefully the lil' darlin' dint get frostbite. WW

[wondersofwine]

Happy belated birthday. Good notes from Dan and good quote from Anne.