Anne Amie, Willamette Valley, Pinot Noir, 2002
This was brought out for a special occasion: my cousin Casey proposed to his new fiancee! My aunt was crying, and out came this bottle.
My goodness, it's hard to convey the size of this bottle. No, that's no magnum -- that's a Jeroboam. It's basically two magnums, or four bottles.
I had brought a 2007 Domaine Drouhin, which is normally a great bottle of wine. However, this bottle -- having the advantage of age -- I have to admit was much tastier (not to disparage the Drouhin; I'm sure it will be great in a couple years too).
The only real problem with an older bottle, and one so big was the cork: it was really hard to get out. The picture above isn't doing it justice, but it was really wide. And the normal sized cork-screw would go in, and simply strip out the cork when you pulled. We kept making a bigger and bigger hole in the middle of it. All the while getting more and more nervous. We finally got it out using a combination of the corkscrew, a hammer to loosen the mean thing, and a flathead screwdriver (push down the side and angled to help pull out the cork). We finally were successful!
At first the nose was cedar -- strong cedar. Maybe some violet. River rock (a slight mustiness), and cinnamon. The taste was predominantly black cherry; yeah, really dark fruit for a Pinot. There was also pepper ... and muscles (from the beach). The finish was long, with cherry and pepper. However, there was an acidic citrus hit at the end, like lime.
A bit later on, that citrus mellowed out, and in it's place was that thing we call "cold lake" -- a very smooth (and cold) tasting wine. And there was anise in the background. Really nice. However, the funny part that kept haunting me -- despite the fact that I really liked this wine -- was that it definitely tasted like watermelon jolly rancher. Seriously, it was unmistakable.
Cost:
Rating:
9.0