Golden West Pinot Noir 2020
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Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Mineral notes dominate at first, followed by subtlety, refinement and purity. Black cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, hibiscus, and wet soil flatter the senses until we take a sip and then there is an overdrive of complexity. Crushed rose petals, tarragon, turmeric, spice box, worn leather and crushed rock.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of fresh strawberries, crushed herbs and violets. Medium-bodied with nice freshness and transparency. Silky tannins. Earnest and charming stuff.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Made by the team at K Vintners, the 2020 Pinot Noir comes from the Royal Slope and saw 25% whole clusters and 12 months in barrel. Classy notes of ripe cherries, blackberries, leafy herbs, leather, and scorched earth all emerge from the glass, and it's medium-bodied, up-front, nicely textured, and has a great finish. Readers looking for a classic Pinot Noir that has real varietal character and won't break the bank will absolutely love this. It will keep for 3-5 years. Best After 2022
Other Vintages
2019-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb
-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Golden West is rooted in completing the story of Washington State.
Winemaker, Charles Smith has successfully shown that Washington, like France, can produce great Rhone varietals, Bordeaux varietals and aromatic whites. They began our story of Burgundy with SIXTO; Golden West came from the idea that where Chardonnay lives, so does Pinot Noir.
There is plenty of high-end Pinot Noir in the market and not enough at a really good price that nearly everyone can afford. Golden West fulfills the promise of what they set out to do: to bring really great wine to a lot more people.
The label is meant to show you where the wine is grown; to show both the geography of Golden West and that it’s handmade and agricultural. When people think of Pinot Noir, they think artisanal and small. The layers of color signal both the complexity and simplicity of what’s in the bottle.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”