| Score: |
92 VM.
"(50 percent new oak.) Vivid red. Spice-tinged aromas of fresh red berries, vanilla and candied rose take on hints of smokiness and incense as the wine opens up. Shows very good clarity and lift on the palate, offering sappy raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that become sweeter on the back half. Firms up slowly on a very long, red-fruit-dominated finish that features talc-y tannins and a lingering suggestion of mocha. Steve Doerner was a pioneer of whole-cluster fermentation, and to this day few other American producers (and their number increases every vintage) do it so well, much less with such consistency. Doerner’s opulent but finely balanced and highly expressive 2014s are as fine a set of wines as he has made since arriving at Cristom when the winery was founded in 1992, following 14 years as winemaker at California’s trailblazing Calera Winery. They’re quite accessible as well, thanks to their opulent fruit and rounded tannins, so don’t hesitate to give them a shot now for their sheer opulence and alluring perfume. Doerner’s wines also age effortlessly, as their track record will attest, and, in my opinion, they always deliver solid value for world-class Pinot Noir. Recent bottles from the early 2000s have shown brilliantly in the last year, even those from hot vintages like 2003, while most wines from that year have lost or at least begun to lose freshness and energy. The 2003 Eileen, in particular, is in fine form now, with abundant spiciness and floral character and fully resolved tannins." Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com, Aug 2016 |