Happy Pinot Noir Day
Today marks Pinot Noir day, possibly my favorite made up holiday. Last week, in anticipation of today I did a vertical tasting of the 2007, 2010 and 2013 Kendric Vineyards Pinot Noir with my dad. Kendric Vineyards is run by Stewart Johnson and named after his father. Most of his grapes (and all of his Pinot Noir) comes from Marin County, just south of the more infamous Sonoma county.
The 2007 was perfectly smooth and well balanced, it reminded me of crushed velvet as I sipped it. It had notes of cherry cola, with more cola than cherry. This vintage is better suited to pork or steak. My dad had notes of raw steak, which I agreed with. He also complemented the touch of oak and its complexity compared to the 2007 and 2010 vintage.
The 2010 was greener and younger, also strong notes of cherry cola but more cherry than cola. Because of the youth of this vintage I think it is best suited to fatty fish, like salmon. My dad found it the most straightforward of the three we tasted. This wine also had an excellent balance of fruit to tannins.
The 2013, was the greenest (which is to be expected with its youth), but based on the incredible depth of flavor in the 2007 and 2010, I have full faith that this will be an incredible vintage in a few more years. My dad felt less able to judge it because of it's youth.
To make sure we had a well rounded view of the wine we re-tasted all three a couple days later and found that they had opened up further, especially the 2013 vintage.
Take a look at the gallery below, with photos of the bottles and the wine in glasses.
