2015 Family Vineyards Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
The 2015 Pinot Noir has a more complex bouquet than its peers, with dark berry fruit, undergrowth and a touch of orange peel. Fine delineation. This is a Pinot that has offered reward on the nose after aging. The palate is well balanced with elegant ripe, pliant tannins. A beautiful core of ripe red cherry and strawberry fruit, bright and lively with a pretty, elegant finish. Lovely! Tasted blind at the 10-Year-On horizontal in London.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(14% alcohol; made from a blend of the producer's best mid-slope vineyards; aged in 27% new oak): Good dark red, not perfectly lucid. Alluring, soil-driven scents of black raspberry, rooty underbrush, spices, smoked meat, minerals and rock, plus a sexy element of smoky oak. Firm and gripping on entry, then suave, tightly wound and intense, with darker fruit, spice and soil flavors sharpened by well-integrated acidity. Offers lovely energy and rising perfume in the mouth--and a light touch to its subtle smoke and saline notes. Extremely youthful on the firm-edged, building finish, which features fine-grained but serious tannins, a saline mineral element and terrific subtle persistence. Very young but not austere, this Pinot should enjoy a graceful evolution in bottle.
The 2015 Family Vineyards Pinot Noir is a blend of the estate's three vineyards (Mrs. M, Block 6/Seadragon and the largest part made by Windansea). It is aged in barrel for 11 months, then racked into stainless steel or three to four months. It has an expressive bouquet, open and replete with lovely red cherry, cranberry and strawberry fruit that is neatly integrated with the oak. The palate is well balanced with a subtle tobacco-edge on the entry. This is structured and precise, quite Morey-St-Denis in style with wonderful salinity and sappiness on the finish. This is another excellent wine from Newton Johnson. If you could not afford 2015 Burgundy, come here.