A Pinot Noir battle, to the death!!!

No! Not to the death!

To the pain!

If you don't get that reference, I'm sorry but we cannot be friends.

Stop reading immediately. Go and watch The Princess Bride. And then return.


You're back!

I know yesterday I posted my "last" blog post before our trip to the Okanagan, but I am a freaking liar, what can I say?

Tonight we decided to have a side-by-side tasting of a couple of Pinot Noirs from one of our new favorite California wineries, Hartford Court. If you haven't heard of them, you should (unless you are a huge Cabernet Sauvignon person, of course). They have a bunch of different vineyards in cooler climates in California, producing the wines that tend to thrive in cooler climates: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel.

Notes about the different vineyards, from the bottles:

Hailey's Block: Located within the renowned Arrendale Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, named after their daughter, Hailey.

Far Coast Vineyard: surrounded by forests located almost two hours from the Russian River on a mountain range in "the middle of nowhere".

These are two of the best Pinots I have ever had. They are almost certainly the BEST I have ever had from California.

2012 Hartford Court Hailey's Block Pinot Noir ($65 USD on website; sadly, sold out)

 Jam a bouquet of spring flowers up each nostril and you may get an idea what this is like. Throw in some cherries and strawberries and you are almost there! The berries overwhelm the palate on this medium-bodied beauty. Rich, spectacular mouthfeel. This is a real treasure. 95.





2012 Hartford Court Far Coast Vineyard Pinot Noir ($70 USD on website)

More masculine and earthy than it's counterpart above, but don't let that fool you; the beautiful floral aromas are still there, they just take a bit more time to develop. Violets, forest floor and cherries on the nose. So pure and beautiful, the earthiness is there in just the right concentrations. Silky tannins which linger forever on the finish. Would probably improve for a decade. 94.





Seemed almost fitting that we'd start off our Okanagan vacation with two spectacular examples of a grape that we do very well here, even if these specific wines are from elsewhere. Will we get any Pinot Noirs on this trip that can compare with these? We'll see.