2012 Pinot Noir Cuvee Agustina Katherine Lindsay Estate
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Tasting notes
Black cherries, plums, cloves and violets open up in the 2012 Pinot Noir Cuvée Agustina Katherine Lindsay Estate. This parcel planted with the Calera clone and small berries yields distinctly dark fruit and considerable structure from the naturally thick skins. Readers will need to be patient, as this powerful Pinot Noir needs time in bottle to fully come together. I imagine the Cuvée Agustina will remain fairly virile in style. The 70% new oak is barely perceptible.
Critic scores
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Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
A profound example of California Pinot Noir is the spectacular 2012 Pinot Noir Agustina Katherine Lindsay Estate. Made totally from the Calera clone, it offers fabulous mulberry, black raspberry and blueberry fruit intermixed with forest floor and mossy underbrush characteristics, and a deep, earthy mouthfeel with full-bodied meatiness and succulence. Enjoy this sensational Pinot Noir over the next decade or more. Sadly, there are only 246 cases.
Dark ruby. Black raspberry and potpourri aromas are sharpened by notes of white pepper and smoky minerals. Taut and sharply focused on entry, then fleshier and broader in the mid-palate, offering cherry-vanilla and blackberry flavors sharpened by juicy acidity. The floral quality comes back emphatically on the strikingly long finish, which features dusty tannins and a bitter cherry quality.
The 2012 Pinot Noir Cuvee Agustina Katherine Lindsay Estate is quite a bit bigger and darker than the Katherine Lindsay Estate. There is plenty of depth and power in the glass, but fewer of the aromatic top notes found in the straight Katherine Lindsay. Here the style is very much on the dark/virile side of things. It will be interesting to see how both Katherine Lindsay Pinots develop over the coming year.
About the producer
Paul Hobbs is one of California wine’s biggest names. Twice named Wine Personality of the Year by Robert Parker, he joined Robert Mondavi in 1977, worked at Opus One and Simi before setting up his eponymous winery in 1991.