Inspiration Vineyards Los Carneros Pinot Noir
$49.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCT: 3 2008 Los Carneros Pinot Noir
CT link above

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Any smoke taint?

Edit: right, the fires were in 2008. their award winning year'was 2007. That said, the 2008 Blue Jay was nice.

jjfahey wrote:Any smoke taint?

Heh, heh ... jjfahey said "taint" ... heh, heh ...

jjfahey wrote:Any smoke taint?

Doubtful...the fires were significantly further north than Carneros. More like Anderson Valley.

Awesome winemaker
Great price
Excellent AVA to source from
Small case production
and NO smoke taint (that was much further north)


This will sell-out.

Yup ... average price $30? And this is about $18? No argument with the price.

While I might just prefer silver to gold winners, why ever would this be the last vintage? Six years of CT ratings and 5 years of sold out vintages

the last vintage from this vineyard in Los Carneros!

Hope the winery checks in...

jjfahey wrote:Any smoke taint?

Nope - not at all. You won't fine smoke, or as some winemakers have called it - "toasty oak characteristics" in this wine.

The fruit was grown in the Carneros region of Sonoma County. Carneros is the southern most part of Sonoma County along San Pablo Bay (which is part of the greater San Francisco Bay) - about 50+ miles away from the northern part of the county where there were problems..

klezman wrote:Doubtful...the fires were significantly further north than Carneros. More like Anderson Valley.

Correct - and unfortunately, I have tried many and know what they taste like.

Fortunately for me, ALL of my 2008's were free of any taint. Even my 2008 Alexander Valley Zinfandel that has been sold here on wine woot. In fact, the vineyard source for our Zinfandel is about 50 miles north of where our Pinot source is...

Interesting, same region as Gazzi. Although they couldn't technically call it Los Carneros fruit, it's literally across the street where the AVA boundary starts according to Scott Harvey.

rjquillin wrote:While I might just prefer silver to gold winners, why ever would this be the last vintage? Six years of CT ratings and 5 years of sold out vintages

Hope the winery checks in...

Hi there - sorry for the delay...

I'll tell you why... The grower's son who I was buying fruit from went through a divorce. My wife and I were friends with his wife. After the divorce, he and his dad wanted to sell to a mega winery and raise their prices... being small, I couldn't compete. Let's not even go there in terms of who made the best wines... ;)

In 2009 and 2010 I purchased Pinot Noir fruit from my next door neighbor here in the Russian River - and just released my 2009 last weekend... New lable and different wine due to a different fruit source...

bsevern wrote:Interesting, same region as Gazzi. Although they couldn't technically call it Los Carneros fruit, it's literally across the street where the AVA boundary starts according to Scott Harvey.

Funny - but did you know that TTB will get on your case if you don't call the wine by its full AVA name? I tried to label this as "Sonoma Carneros" but TTB rejected this saying I needed to call is "Los Carneros" - even though it's in Sonoma County. Carneros is the only AVA up here that spans into both Napa and Sonoma Counties.

How does this Pinot compare/contrast to Guy Davis' Sonoma Coast Pinot?

trifecta wrote:How does this Pinot compare/contrast to Guy Davis' Sonoma Coast Pinot?

I like Guy Davis' wines - I would say that mine has less oak influence - it's lighter and has a little more acid.

Although I'm not trying to throw Texicali under the bus, I suspect that she could also comment since I would bet my lucky wine thief that she's had both.

texacaliali wrote:oopsy, logging in fromy iPhone, was in reply to Cortot20...

Jon, please tell us how this bottle is tasting now, I enjoyed the fresh layers of fruit and brightness.

I keep telling folks to think French - this is a Pinot Noir with finesse. The color is light (I don't add enzymes or mega purple) and the flavors are pure - some strawberry, jolly rancher cherry, earth and leather notes.

The acidity makes it a great food wine - and because it's unfiltered, you won't want to shake it up before you pour a glass. My recommendation is to decant and enjoy the pure berry flavors.

cortot20 wrote:Awesome winemaker
Great price
Excellent AVA to source from
Small case production
and NO smoke taint (that was much further north)


This will sell-out.

Thank you btw!

Any last questions before this winemaker heads off to bed? If not - I look forward to answering your questions all day tomorrow!

Cheers!
Jon

OK, I'm in:
1. I like French (and German) pinots
2. I like the way Jon treats his fruit
3. Great way to access a $30 pinot at under $20
4. It is just starting it's peak drinking window.
5. I'm buying now because I think cortot20 is right - this will sell out. Actually, I hope it doesn't sell out and makes a re-appearance at the woot off
6. And the label is awesome!

Good morning...

Jon, you're killing me. I just received the 2008 Chardonnay order 2 days ago and had promised myself to stop buying since I am officially out of room and then that whole actually having to pay the credit card company, which really get's in the way ;)

Then you throw an auto-buy at us. But I do have a little restraint so I'll stick to one set, well maybe two. We'll see what my fingers do when I click the golden oval.

Thank you for your active participation here, I enjoy the inside scoop. Glad to see your not driving this time

If you want all the technical details the winery has a page for this one, with acids, PH, etc. It is a pdf, so usual "must have adobe" warning applies.

I just received my Gazzi yesterday, but life is more fun when you are waiting for wine from the FedEx guy. I'm in.

Current numbers (updated each minute)
First sucker: CaptainTr1pps
Speed to first woot: 2m 25.307s
Last wooter to woot: catfishhunters99

The upside-down wine bottles in the pictures lately are bothering me. Stop sloshing the sediment around like that!

twstdvn wrote:I keep telling folks to think French - this is a Pinot Noir with finesse. The color is light (I don't add enzymes or mega purple) and the flavors are pure - some strawberry, jolly rancher cherry, earth and leather notes.

I'm a sucker for Pinot, but harbor an intense hatred of jolly rancher cherry. It's the Tito Jackson of jolly ranchers.

I'm sure what's being described isn't as dastardly as it sounds, and this is probably a delightful wine. But I'll never get past the image and I may have trouble sleeping.

Those of you without irrational candy hatreds, enjoy it!

catfishhunters99 wrote:life is more fun when you are waiting for wine from the FedEx guy. I'm in.

I live by that motto.
Unfortunantly I live in an apartment and since I discovered wine.woot, my roommate is getting slightly annoyed and has discussed an intervention.

Thanks for the great offer, 1st winewoot in over a year.

Discord wrote:The upside-down wine bottles in the pictures lately are bothering me. Stop sloshing the sediment around like that!

And you think that maybe the FedEx folks will treat your shipment more gently?

Good winemaker comments, if I do say so myself . . . though it's not fair to clone 667 to describe it as 'jolly rancher cherry' - I love the former but not the latter!

Definitely no enzymes for Pinot, all you get is color and tannin at the expense of fruit and (natural) polysaccharides. Good call.

You've heard of Pinot Noir clone 666, right? It's also known as "Syrah"

mschauber wrote:Good morning...

Jon, you're killing me. I just received the 2008 Chardonnay order 2 days ago and had promised myself to stop buying since I am officially out of room and then that whole actually having to pay the credit card company, which really get's in the way ;)

Then you throw an auto-buy at us. But I do have a little restraint so I'll stick to one set, well maybe two. We'll see what my fingers do when I click the golden oval.

Thank you for your active participation here, I enjoy the inside scoop. Glad to see your not driving this time

Thanks Kevin... Sorry... ;) Hey - are we going to try and plan a winemaker dinner in Bloomington sometime in May/June?

Thanks tons for YOUR continued support too!

stillmanbrown wrote:Good winemaker comments, if I do say so myself . . . though it's not fair to clone 667 to describe it as 'jolly rancher cherry' - I love the former but not the latter!

Definitely no enzymes for Pinot, all you get is color and tannin at the expense of fruit and (natural) polysaccharides. Good call.

You've heard of Pinot Noir clone 666, right? It's also known as "Syrah"

LOL - YA - I think that's what I'm using... oh, for my Syrah... ;)

Funny, but I know folks who swear by using some Syrah in their Pinot's to bring out the color but I'm just not thrilled with the outcomes in my own trials - so no Syrah in my Pinot and no Pinot in my Syrah...

liverman wrote:And you think that maybe the FedEx folks will treat your shipment more gently?

LOL - YEA!!! ;)

btuck895 wrote:I live by that motto.
Unfortunantly I live in an apartment and since I discovered wine.woot, my roommate is getting slightly annoyed and has discussed an intervention.

Is there any room at your office? I had this Russian guy (smart network hacker, oh, I mean administrator) who used to work for me back when I was an IT geek. He used to store his wine in our server room in some cabinets that he brought in. He told me that it was perfectly temperature controlled - and his wife wouldn't discover his stash...

smcannally wrote:I'm a sucker for Pinot, but harbor an intense hatred of jolly rancher cherry. It's the Tito Jackson of jolly ranchers.

I'm sure what's being described isn't as dastardly as it sounds, and this is probably a delightful wine. But I'll never get past the image and I may have trouble sleeping.

Those of you without irrational candy hatreds, enjoy it!

Sorry - it's the only way I know of that describes a fruit characteristic that's also a little tart. Perhaps Jolly Rancher Strawberry? - seriously, it does has some full fruit flavors, including a little spice... Hopefully you can get the image out of your head ;)

Absolute wine noobie here, needing some serious education and help. I want to pick up some nice wines as a gift for some family members, possibly keep a bottle for myself. My experience is pretty much summed up by mentioning Principato Rossato, port punch, and cooking wines.

With that shameful admission out of the way, how does this compare to the Olive Garden house wine? (I mention this wine particularly because that is the only definite name/taste that I have associated in my mind.) I've had zin's, etc, but I just wanted a comparison, is it sweeter, is it heavier, does it linger, etc.?