2016 Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Bloom's Field

The 2016 Pinot Noir Bloom's Field is stellar. A powerful wine built on a core of vertical structure, the 2016 dazzles from the very first taste. Lavender, sage, menthol, licorice and a rush of inky blue/purplish berry fruit develop in the glass, but it is the wine's virile power that differentiates it in this stellar lineup. I would prefer to give the 2016 a few years in the cellar to come into its own.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Bloom's Field from Domaine de la Côte is fabulous and the most immediate of these forthcoming releases, wafting from the glass with singular aromas of nori, elderberry, black raspberry, rich soil and rose petal. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, sapid and super concentrated, with rich velvety tannins, a layered mid-palate and a long, searingly intense, saline finish. There's more iron in the soil here, which was eroded in situ—unlike the the depositional soils of Memorious, which are super concentrated—and planted with Calera, Swan & Mt. Eden selections that now all ripen at the same moment. This exceptional Pinot Noir was fermented with 100% whole cluster and matured in 45% new oak.