Score: |
95 VM. "(made from vines planted in 1970; no new oak) Light vivid red. A highly aromatic bouquet evokes fresh red berries, blood orange and Asian spices, along with vibrant mineral and floral overtones. Juicy and precise on the palate, offering alluringly sweet raspberry liqueur, rose pastille and spicecake flavors that deepen and spread out steadily with air. Conveys a striking blend of power, tension and purity, finishing with finely woven tannins, superb clarity and emphatic, floral-driven persistence. All of the 2015s here were made with whole clusters and it shows clearly in the wines’ expressive, spice- and floral-dominated bouquets. Fox is a big proponent of neutral oak barrels as she thinks that as sexy as new wood can be with Pinot “it’s just not a set of aromas and flavors that I want on my wines,” she said. After our tasting Kelley opened bottles of her 2011 and 2007 Momtazi, both wines from cooler vintages, to contrast them with the hot-vintage 2015s and 2014s. They are both in fine form, by the way, with more room for aging but I think that the 2007 is on its drinking plateau now and the 2011 should be in prime time in just a few more years. As my scores, here, and in recent vintages suggest I consider this small producer’s graceful, finely etched Pinots to be among the very best being made in the New World and, for their quality, pricing is a gift." Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com, Dec 2017 |