2012 Neighborhood Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Ruinenlust, Enchanted Hill Vineyard, San Simeon.
From vines adjacent to the famed and majestic Hearst Castle comes Neighborhood Vineyards Ruinenlust Pinot Noir, this cool climate Pinot shows lush texture and full flavors, that you would expect of central coast wines with a deep ruby/red hue, silky and lush mouth feel and long lingering finish. With consulting help from ex Tantara winemaker Jeff Fink, Neighborhood Vineyards has put together a strong two wine lineup of 2012 Pinot Noir, and owner/winemaker Elly Hartshorn is planning to revive San Francisco’s wine growing tradition, she has planted a Pinot Noir vineyard in the City and it should be online in a few years, her Alemany Farms Vineyard is the talk of the town and we are looking forward to seeing this project take shape, she has a block of 828 clone in the ground since 2013 and we should be getting some fruit this fall, though we will have to wait for a production wine for another 3 to 4 years, but it is very exciting, especially after tasting her last set of releases from sourced grapes. Elly’s 2012 Ruinenlust Pinot with it’s beautiful fabric label and it’s Turkish Kilim artifact symbols plus a natural wax capsule make the package really stand out, but what’s inside the bottle is just as impressive and it expresses terroir, elegance and rich layers from start to finish with lovely fruit, spice and cedar wood. The palate expands nicely, but never feels heavy or overly dense, and at 13.8% alcohol it is a refined effort with glorious detail and grace showing black cherry, plum and raspberry fruit, minty/fennel, vanilla, hints of smoke, Asian spice/tea and cola bean. This polished and easy drinking Pinot is really hitting it’s stride and should drink nicely over the next 3 years, this is a winery to watch and get on board with ASAP! Be sure to keep an eye out for Elly’s Cabernet Franc from Paso Robles and her upcoming Albarino, both are super wines as well!
($30 Est.) 92+ Points, grapelive