2008 Windward Barrel Select Monopole Pinot Noir

DATE CONSUMED

Monday, March 11, 2013

VINTAGE

2008

WINERY/PRODUCER

Windward Vineyard

WINE NAME

Monopole Barrel Select

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Pinot Noir

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

See above

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Estate grown and bottled

REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)

Paso Robles, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.3%

PRICE PAID

$49.60 ($53.20 including sales tax and shipping) (full retail price is $62)

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We received this bottle from Windward’s wine club in November 2012

BOUQUET

This wine has a very earthy and slightly oaky/fruity/spicy nose.  There are suggestions of savory herbs and black pepper, as well as red and black fruits and hints of floral elements (like violets).  We’ve belonged to Windward’s wine club for years and know that this wine is going to be delicious.  The bouquet doesn’t quite foretell the quality of this wine; most quality California Pinots have big, beautiful, floral qualities in addition to the classic earth, fruit, spice, and (to varying degrees) oaky elements.  This wine falls a bit short on the bouquet front (though it IS there).  We’ll see how it performs on the taste front.

Side note: after this wine had a chance to breathe for about an hour or so, the floral elements really rose to the occasion.  So if you have this wine in your cellar, cool it down for a bit and decant it for at least an hour; you’ll clearly be rewarded.

TASTING NOTES

Oh yeah, I just KNEW this wine would be fabulous!

Windward sets aside their very best barrels for their Barrel Select program (similar to the “Private Reserve” system that a lot of wineries employ).  I don’t know what percentage of Windward’s production becomes part of their elite barrel selection, but imagine Marc (Goldberg, winemaker and co-owner of Paso Robles’ best Pinot Noir producer, by FAR) barrel sampling their (for example) 100 barrels of the 2008 vintage and coming across ten barrels that are superior to the other 90 barrels from that same vintage.  As we all know, every bottle, every barrel, and even every glass of the 2008 Windward Pinot Noir will be different from every other bottle, barrel, and glass because every single berry is slightly different from every other berry that is grown on Windward’s fifteen-acre estate.  If a particular Windward vintage produces 15,000,000,000 Pinot Noir berries, the combination of those 15,000,000,000 different berries will produce similar but different-tasting barrels (as well as bottles and glasses).  Marc goes through each barrel in the winery and picks the best of the best to bottle as their Monopole Barrel Select. 

This is a spectacular Paso Robles Pinot Noir, a region that is not known for Pinot at all.  Paso, generally speaking, does Zinfandel and Southern Rhone varietals very well.  But Pinot Noir is generally done much better in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, Napa Valley, and the Santa Barbara area (in general).  Somehow/someway, due to Paso’s many varied microclimates, Marc and Maggie have come across the absolutely PERFECT spot to produce world-class Pinot Noir.

This is a rich, dark, spicy, beautifully well-balanced Pinot Noir.  The usual red and black fruits are present (black berries, raspberries, sour/black cherries, plums, etc.), along with a significant amount of savory herbs and black pepper.  There is touch of oak and a dollop of cream and vanilla as an undercurrent.  The flavor profile for this wine goes long and deep, exhibiting complexity, subtlety, grace, balance, and refinement.   This wine tastes like it came from the Northern Coast of Sonoma County, whose Pinots can be extraordinarily rich and complex due to the severe weather and complex terrior.  As I’ve written several times before in reviewing Windward Pinot Noirs, it is absolutely amazing how Marc and Maggie can produce such extraordinary Pinot Noirs in Paso Robles.  Their Pinots are BY FAR the best Pinots out of the Paso AVA.  Quite frankly, their Pinots compare (and beat) the vast majority of Pinots that come out of Napa and the Russian River Valley.  They truly are that good!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We opened this wine on a Monday because today is Arthur’s birthday.  We only open Windward Barrel Select Pinots on special occasions because they truly are special.

We paired this wine with a simply-spiced rack of lamb (Kosher salt, black pepper, and Herbs de Provence, my favorite/go-to savory herb blend).  To say that this wine was a PERFECT match with the rack of lamb would be the understatement of the century!  Due to it’s spiciness, richness, and creaminess, this wine would also pair well with just about any other red meat, especially grilled steaks, lamb chops, and lamb shanks. 

Pinot Noir generally pairs well with duck, but you really have to be careful when pairing Pinot with duck.  Only light-bodied, feminine, elegant Pinot Noirs should be paired with duck (like Windward’s 2006 Pinot, my favorite Windward Pinot of all time!).  A dark, rich, spicy, heavily-structured Pinot like Windward’s 2008 Pinot should be paired with beef.  Just a suggestion……….

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking beautifully right now and due to its structure should continue to age and mature gracefully for another ten-plus years.  If we had the patience, I would have loved to open this bottle in another five years or so.  Sadly, we simply don’t have that kind of patience or the number of bottles in our inventory to last that long.

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

93

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD  -  EXCELLENT

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.windwardvineyard.com/