Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir

Rich, captivating and intensely flavored with layered complexity. I’d say it’s at its peak. Palate coating black raspberries and blueberry, intense spices of clove and cinnamon, purple flowers, dark chocolate and resolved tannins. A bit hot. Finishes with good length, but still a bit more abruptly than I’d prefer at its level. But, Marcissin is and will likely always be my favorite American expression of Pinot Noir. About a mere 2,000 bottles produced of Blue Slide per year.

This was one of a quartet of beautiful bottles shared by the fantastic and hilarious @Bill Bender. It opened beautifully with a little San Diego summer evening air and still has many a year ahead. More importantly, it was washed down amidst superb company and perfectly accompanied the abundance of laughter. To top it all off we even managed some quality FaceTime with @Shay A whilst sipping the last glass. Great clean Friday night fun - 2010

What a Friday group tasting put on by Dan! Killer wines. 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 5 reds, 1 dessert. All blind.

Dan pulled this out as a back-up bottle...ha! What a bottle. The ‘04 of this is the greatest domestic Pinot I’ve had to date. The ‘06 was still quite acidic and bursting forth with fruit from all sides of the spectrum as well as a distinctive clay, dirty funk note. Crisp and a tad hot. No rush in opening if you have any.

Fair—overripe and showing VA in the nose. Too bad as the underlying fruit is solid even 10 years out.

Again, if it’s a Marcassin Blue Slide Ridge Pinot, it’s probably from @Dan Fitzgerald . These continue to remain the greatest Cali pinots I’ve tasted to date. This probably could benefit from another 3-5 years of cellaring. So much pure raspberries, fresh squeezed blackberries, cedar. Little bit of black cherry. Full bodied but not overpowering. Fantastic.

Flat out amazing. One of the greatest pinots I’ve ever had. Do people understand this is 16yrs old and it tastes like this? So much kirsch, blueberries, dates, blackberry stems. Impeccable texture. Can’t believe this is more than 7yrs old.

People must be out of their minds to give this Pinot an overall rating of 8.8. This is one of the most profound domestic pinots I've ever tasted. Blackberry and strawberry fruit but no tartness. Birchwood and a touch of smoke. In a PRIME drinking window. If you have this, don't miss this window!

Currents, prunes and blackberries.

This is flat out delicious

Virtually nothing like that fabulous 03 I tasted several months ago. Dead nose. Muted mid-palate. Clipped finish. Me thinks that 03 was the exception not the rule. My recommendation: Marcassin Blue Slides - drink 'em young.