Jessie James Vineyard Pinot Noir

Gorgeous and best JJ ever. Nose is full of mid season cherries, spice, gentle wood shavings from woodshop when one was a kid. Really aromatic and alluring. Really huge spice. So so aromatic and casts a spell on you. Palate is so juicy and full of life. Sweet and sour cherry fruit and big time acids and wonderful structure and purity. This needs mega mega air. The sweetness on the finish and mid is to just die for and then gets tamed by the incredible acidity and mineral spine.

Medium Ruby color with aromas dark red fruits, black tea and ample floral spice, aged in 8% new French oak for 21 months. On the palate flavors of black cherry, blackberry and plum with tobacco, cedar, black pepper, tea and vanilla spice. Soft fine tannins, long finish, well balanced with acidity, ending with fruit, herb, spice and flinty wet stone mineral character. Nice! Organic!

A bottle Evan left me to study for some days. This is the best wine Evan has ever made. Stunning nose of blackberry, blackberry coulis, ripe black and red cherries, a lovely herbal element and tree bark. Much more to reveal but I love the aromatic precision and depth here. Palate is just so nimble, fresh and complete with rocking acidity and minerality. Super engaging and just so precise. Really amazing vintage for Evan. So complex and with noble structure and amazing sapidity. So pure and so complex but has more and more to reveal. 9.5 after PNP. Let’s see where it goes. Terrific acid driven and mineral finish. Now with air the spices start developing on the nose. Dizzying. Palate is filling out and gaining more amplitude and opulence but the acid and minerals are right there. What a finish! On day 2 this is a 9.6 now with so much energy and vigor.

Lovely licorice on the nose. Floral and stunning aromas. Violets. Ridiculous intensity. Big tannins and ripe but the most backwards of the three. Sappy and still needs time.

Big nose of ripe cherry, dusty earth, woodshop, slight herbals, so so profound. Palate is juicy and ripe with great intensity. Round and juicy with terrific, elegant and pearly tannins. Long imprint of a finish. Riper than 21. Opulent but a restrained opulence.

Blackberry, blackberry coulis, dark cherry, intense florals. Violets. So gorgeous. Stunning nose. 9.7 nose. So fresh and elegant with terrific acidity. So complex and engaging. Super young but man oh man what potential. Super complex finish. Inner mouth aromas. Terrific inner mouth aromas. Really engaging mid palate. Spicey, structured and fresh. So so long. Acid is on point. Wait 5-7 years. Really opens up on day 2. Creamy mid palate but still so much tension. Beautiful finesse. Best wine Evan has ever made. Almost 9.7. Nose is so complex with unreal forest/herbal/spice elements. Gorgeous Black cherry. So vivid. Palate is so focused and rich get tempered and restrained. Extraordinary fruit quality. This is a 9.7.

The grand cru at Martin Woods and the 19 is a benchmark wine. Nose has dizzying spice and sour cherries. Gorgeous mineral tones. Layers of honey. Fields. Scenes in nature. Late spring it smells like. A stunning aroma. The palate is ridiculous. Pure velvet. But bright, tart and tangy but in such an off hand way. Wow this is juicy and so refined. There is the tiniest hit of opulence which really brings this home. Right at the beginning of the midpalate. Wonderful texture and oh so nimble. A fine line of structure ensures a long life.

Startling nose of spices and mulberry. Gorgeous cherry flower and such intensity. Wow. Cherry compote almost but herbal as well. Superb complexity. Much more open aromatically than before. Palate needs an hour. It’s juicy but also initially lean. Terrific inner mouth aromas and such purity. Such acid and freshness! Wow. Can tell this is a cool climate Pinot. Gorgeous vivid cherry fruit but this is at 10% capacity right now. I’ll be back.

This is such a ridiculous wine. Nose is so high toned and also luxurious. Beautiful herbals, high toned sour cherry, cherry flower and mid season cherry. Floral, some terrific spice. This has greatly improved on PNP aromatically at this point. Gorgeous, clear, precise and super focused nose. Just the most stunning complex spices imaginable. Really impressed. Palate is tight as expected but it’s like 10% more open than it was earlier this year. But it is all there perfect harmony. Amazing fruit and density yet elegant and light on its feet. Big, noble tannins, so so precise and fine with just unreal clear and focused cherry fruit of the mid season and sour kind. Needs mega air but man will this go places. I’ll be back. As this slowly opens the fruit sweetens. The nose gets more floral and much more harmonious. Awesome inner mouth aromas and terrific spice and energy. Now we are taking.

Reticent but promising nose. Spice, soppy cherries, smoke, smells like volcanic and what do you know it is. Superb earthiness and startling minerality. After 6-8 minutes this nose gets going. Love the nose. Reeks of terroir. Palate has terrific tiny berry fruit intensity. Elegant and superb structure and so refined. Intense and young. This needs mega air but has length, a nice hit of opulence and great freshness. A serious wine. Huge tannins and structure and what sap. I’ll be back as this airs out. 9.3 for now. After air the fruit gets deeper, sappier, more vivid and sweet. 9.4. Now.

UPDATE - this lasted 4 days. Each day it got better. Easily a 9.5 now.