2006 Gainey Pinot Noir

Type Red
Producer Gainey
Variety Pinot Noir
Designation n/a
Vineyard n/a
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Central Coast
Price $30.40 from Bin Ends Wine, tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live.



The Big Wooden Guy tries the "Dancer" Yoga pose, not an easy feat after a bottle of win that is best drunk all in one night.

This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live.

Night One

The nose was big right out of the bottle. It offered up a whole mix of cherries, from tiny clear native to big Bings, with allspice, and an echo of nutmeg. It was not over-oaked over-fruit, but not quite Burgundy in depth, either.

The palate bears almost no relationship to the nose. A lot more wood shows on the palate, a couple of scoops of vanilla. Spice is there, too, but more peppery, less exotic. It has a shift from cherry on the nose to raspberry on the palate, but the bigger shift is exotic sweet spice to pepper, nose to palate.

This is very good wine on Night One.

Night Two

The nose is far more muted on Night Two than on Night One. The fruit is softer cherry plus some strawberry. Most of the spice is gone.

There are loads of strawberry on the palate, but not really in a great way. It is more like artificial strawberry soda than fresh strawberries. It has a touch of white pepper, and some raspberry on the mid-palate.

The bottom line is simple- this wine was good, not great, but good, on Night One. On Night Two, not so much. That does not necessarily mean it won't last a bit in the cellar, but if you do open it, plan to drink it all that night.





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