2003 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard

Good saturated red with ruby highlights. Crushed dark berries, blueberry and licorice on the brooding nose. Tightly wound and rather muscular, with sappy flavors of black fruits and pomegranate. Not especially sweet or fleshy but quite juicy. Tastes like a rather energetically extracted wine. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and strong dark fruit flavors. Shows a distinct family resemblance to the 2002 Pisoni, which was from a very low yield. Like the Alder Springs pinot, this was fined with egg whites but not filtered; the other 2003 pinots were neither fined nor filtered. This may well merit a higher score with three or four years of bottle aging.