2008 Inman Family Thorn Ridge Ranch Pinot Noir (94 Points)

DATE CONSUMED

Friday, January 18, 2013

VINTAGE

2008

WINERY/PRODUCER

Inman Family

WINE NAME

N/A

TYPE OF WINE

Red

COMPOSITION

100% Pinot Noir

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Thorn Ridge Ranch

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

Russian River Valley, California

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.5%

PRICE PAID

$56

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

We bought this bottle at the winery’s RRV tasting room in October 2011.

BOUQUET

This wine exhibits classic RRV Pinot traits, like tons of RRV earth, savory herbs, and red, blue, and black fruit.  The RRV in Sonoma County, just like the Santa Rita Hills in the Santa Ynez Valley and Central Coast AVAs, has VERY unique traits, both on the bouquet and flavor profile. This wine is no exception; RRV Pinots have unique floral, spicy, fruity, and earthy bouquets; this wine has all of those traits in SPADES.

TASTING NOTES

This is one of the best Pinots we’ve had in the last 12 to 18 months, with a rich, dark, creamy, wonderfully deep and complex flavor profile (it almost tastes like it came from the North Coast of Sonoma County, where Pinots tend to be dark, brooding, spicy, and delicious beyond belief).

This wine has an abundance of red and black fruit (black cherries, plums, blueberries, and black berries), TONS of savory herbs and spices (especially black pepper, along with the usual Pinot savory herbs like sage and rosemary), along with a gorgeous RRV earthiness.  This wine is beautifully well-balanced, with smooth, sweet, creamy oak and tannins, followed by a deft, delicate, feminine finish that lingers for the perfect amount of time.  This wine isn’t too sweet, too earthy, too fruity, too oaky, too alcoholic, and/or too anything; it’s a GORGEOUSLY perfectly-balanced Pinot Noir.  

We don’t buy wines from tasting rooms nearly as much as we used to.  When we first got “into” wine, we used to buy cases and cases and cases of wine from tasting rooms at full retail prices, but we’ve learned over the years that that isn’t terribly smart.  At $56 a bottle, this wine isn’t cheap, but we obviously felt compelled to buy this at Inman Family’s tasting room for a reason; and that reason would be because this is a FANTASTIC RRV Pinot Noir.

And one more thing: for years, wines that came with screw caps (technically called “Stelvin closure”) were generally pure crap.  As anybody who knows anything about wine nowadays well knows, that is no longer the case.  Some of the best wines in the world now come with Stelvin closures, including this beauty.  So don’t be alarmed that a fantastic, not-exactly-cheap wine comes with a screw cap.  If anything, it shows that Inman Family really cares about their wine and doesn’t want to gamble with having TCA-tainted corks ruining their precious wines.  Don’t blame them one bit!

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We paired this wine with Arthur’s homemade duck confit (the leg and thigh portion) and a mushroom and potato medley sautéed with onions in the duck fat.  As you can probably imagine, the duck confit and mushroom/potato medley went PERFECTLY with this fabulous wine.  The wine’s red and black fruit, spice, mushroom earthiness, and structure paired beautifully with the duck confit and mushroom/potato medley.  This wine would also pair well with just about most red meat dishes, especially prime rib, lamb (chops/racks/shanks), and grilled steaks.

AGING POTENTIAL

This wine is drinking GORGEOUSLY right now and will continue to age and mature beautifully for another 10 to 15 years.  In a perfect world, I would have aged this wine for another three to five years.  If you have this wine in your cellar and can’t wait any longer, cool it down and decant it for about an hour (we decanted for about ten to twenty minutes because we couldn’t WAIT to taste/drink this beauty).

SCORE (on a 100-point scale)

94

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

GOOD

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.inmanfamilywines.com/