2015 Mount Eden "Estate" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir

Jeffrey Patterson’s 2015 estate bottling of pinot noir is flat out gorgeous on both the nose and palate, and though the wine is unequivocally built for long and graceful cellaring, it is already very, very easy to drink! It comes in at a nicely ripe 13.5 percent octane and offers up a deep and very complex bouquet of black cherries, sweet dark berries, woodsmoke, raw cocoa, a great base of soil, a touch of black tea, lovely spices notes of nutmeg and clove and a discreet foundation of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, and rock solid at the core, with superb mineral drive, great length and grip, tangy acids, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and vibrant finish. This is first class pinot noir with grand cru-like palate authority!

The 2015 Pinot Noir has softened nicely since I last tasted it, although the aromatics remain a bit reticent, most likely because of the 35% whole clusters used that year. There is lovely richness and depth underneath, but readers will have to cellar the 2015 for at least a few years in order to see the wine at its best and most complete. (AG)