Tasting Notes

WA93

From an especially rocky, thin-soiled, basaltic ridge through this vineyard, the Evening Land 2011 Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard La Source – of which there are 1,488 cases – offers a more texturally tender, buoyant, and ultimately elegant performance than its “regular” Seven Springs counterpart. Fresh cassis and elderberry are garlanded with bittersweetly perfumed gentian, lavender and iris, the fruit and flowers being beautifully set off on a silken palate against the sort of wet stone and forest floor backdrop already familiar from that “little sibling” bottling. The energy here comes out as luminosity and exhilarating vibrancy, and as this beauty matures it should acquire additional richness and complexity without that energy dimming. I suspect it will merit re-visiting through at least 2025.

WSM92

Coming off polished and suave, this well-built pinot needs several days to unfurl, to reveal the layers beneath its impressive veneer. After two days, the wine relaxes and opens, its black cherry core gaining a spicy filigree; after three, its graceful evolution feels like a great performance. Built to cellar, then to serve with duck breast.

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