Friday, December 30, 2011

Cline 2010 Cool Climate Pinot Noir (California)

According to my American wine connection this is the first time Cline has made a Pinot Noir.  Cline is known for making excellent single vineyard Zinfandel, and here in Ontario they have a good value priced Syrah that continues to impressed year in and year out ... but I had never seen a Pinot under their label and my connection further sparked my interest by telling me it is one of his favourites of the year (value-wise) ... now that's pretty big praise.  I was also told that for years Cline has been growing these grapes and selling them off to La Crema, who are known for making some pretty awe-inspiring Pinots themselves, so if they liked the grapes this must be something special.  The nose had lots of smoky strawberry notes along with sour cherry and spice.  The palate doled out more of that smoky quality along with sour cherry, spice and some earthy notes.  The finish was the most intriguing part of all as it laid down a delicious layer of smoked black cherry on the tongue.  I would say this is a pretty good first effort from the folks at Cline.


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