I thought it was interesting that your first review said that it needed another year in bottle, but you opened the second bottle only two months later!
I’m still hanging onto mine and don’t expect to open them for a while, so I’ll pass on this offer. But these guys do make some mighty tasty juice.
Well, it can certainly use some more time in bottle, but it did develop a surprising amount in just a couple months. I think this was part recovery from bottle shock (both shipping and actual bottling - if I remember correctly, the original offer was not very long after bottling, and I think that was discussed in the thread if someone wants to look it up), part actual in-bottle development, and part the fact that I store my wines at room temperature (small apartment and not nearly the cash flow needed for a big wine fridge). I suspect it will keep getting better for a while, though, which is why I’m holding on to my last couple bottles too.
Don’t know about 2008, but the 2007 BJ was one of my first wine woots, so perhaps I’m recalling through burgundy colored glasses, but I remember as really nice. Bouquet, initial fruit, and finish were all modestly retrained (compared to many CA PNs), providing a very nice balance. In addition to a deep cherry base, I recall some enjoyable but short lived peaty / mushroomy notes that probably would have been lost in a bigger wine.
A very enjoyable new world PN, and I resolved to restock if I saw again at that price point (I think about ~$21). Inflation being what it is, I’m on the fence now.
no, just smart ones who knew what they were doing, or Parker aficionados who are slumming it cheap.
$88 for 2 from the winery with Ground Shipping ($32 per btl plus $24 Shipping) vs $55 from Woot with better shipping - OK deal but I think I will wait - Can’t believe I missed the Wellington!!!
Because for $50 you get TWO bottles of tasty wine! Win.
Because the smart person would see this is for 2 bottles?
If you were to spend $10 a glass for that wine, that is roughly the equivalent (5 glasses per bottle).
How about paying $10 for a shot, that you can get ~17 from a $30 bottle…
I miss the '07 Blue Jay. It is cellared in Michigan, and I live in New Hampshire. Blue Jay '08 was at first an instabuy, but upon further taste and thought, I cannot toss in my chips. I fold.
OK my raw notes I reposted in my first post above:
It needs a while to open up, that’s for sure. They’re not bad at all, but my taste runs to bigger things.
I did prefer the Black Pine to this at the time (out of the wooted wines), but those who love good, light CA PNs (not Pinots trying to be HUGE, yuck) say they’re great. I’m still getting used to the “bare” pinot flavour. The winemaker is SO about lettin g the terroir speak through his wine, and you can tell the different flavours in them! Elegant and subtle, though a lil thin for my liking.
My taste runs more to KR and the Burgundian Buena Vista, but I’m not subtle enough on Pinot yet for that to mean much to you Pinot noir lovers. Indeed you should never do that… paraphrasing rpm: taste loads and don’t get so drunk you don’t remember the flavours. And take notes.
A good easy drinking Pinot … once it opens up. IMHO it needs about a year or so in the bottle… I still have 3 left from the 1st offering and that’s how long I’m going to wait before trying another one.
That sounds smart! I might actually like it more then. Thinking about it, the KR and the BueVis I like are 06 and 03 respectively…
Well, this is just my uneducated guess, but I’ve noticed that often pinot noir, more than most other varietals, has a capacity to develop fruit similarities of cherries (and strawberries). My guess is that if the acid in the wine is not well balanced to the fruit or the fruit is perhaps not optimal, this may come out as more sour cherries than lip smacking ripe cherries. Then again, maybe that’s a flavor profile that some winemakers shoot for and some consumers dig, but I don’t. Maybe this possibility is one of the reasons that PN is considered more difficult to get a consistently ripe crop out of than other grapes. Maybe the sourness or acidity is having a mild reaction to your fillings and you perceive tinniness? (all just guesses, again)
In any event, I’m a little more cautious in looking at the flavor profiles for PNs and if I see sour cherry, I’m reluctant that I will like. However, there is a magical medium above this threshold, but below the fruit bomb PNs (that might as well be syrahs or just about anything else). I think of that PN range as having dark cherries, ripe strawberries, with a little musky, earthy, funkiness.
My feeling is that the 2007 Blue Jay was certainly on this path.
Now you, sir, are a real Pinot lover. I haven’t the experience in them to say anything like this… thank you! From tasting this one, yes it has that tinny flavour I think… but it’s not the nasty “sour empty cherry” that I hate in a bad pinot… like the worse bottles of KR’s inconsistent 1001 second label.
funny, I’ve just noticed my raw notes didn’t include cherry, because they aLL taste of cherry and my hand was tired, so I took that as read.
My guess is, now that it’s been brought up, that this may age nicely. Though it hasn’t heaps of body, so I may be mistaken. Thoughts?
Interesting thought - this may be out of left field but wandered if you might be able to compare this to one of my favorite Pinot’s - Bella Gloss?
If you taste metal it’s probably TCA (aka corked).
Hmmm, I was thinking minerality. Or that thinnness you can get in some PNs, like the end part of the sour cherry. Some might call either of those :metal".
I think - RHOD hit the nail on the head - it’s the thinness that I believe I am interpreting as tinney
I think - RHOD hit the nail on the head - it’s the thinness that I believe I am interpreting as tinney
I’m going to respectfully disagree with corked. I believe that I’ve only ever had one truly corked wine (I’ve had a few that probably didn’t age so well or were stored improperly, or were just plain crummy), and it was immediately and overwhelmingly smelled and tasted (I mean you have to taste it if it’s your first corked wine, right?) like wet leaves or newspapers. And it was a burgundy. If there was any tinniness, it would have been maybe my fourth complaint.
Buying a case of the 1001 was easily my biggest Woot! Fail to date.
Based on the reviews it garnered, many would say that’s a good thing. and I’ve made note of who those many are. Fool me once…