2008 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Burnside Vineyard
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
More authoritative, deeper, and more nuanced aromatically is the 2008 Pinot Noir Burnside Vineyard. This is one of the more complete 2008s, displaying sweet black cherry fruit intermixed with pomegranate earth, and spice. Medium-bodied and showing good purity, depth, and length, this is a very successful and reassuringly top-notch 2008. Drink it over the next 3 or so years. One of the most reliable negociant firms in all of California is that of Patz and Hall, as the following tasting notes demonstrate. They are spot-on across the board with their generic as well as single-vineyard wines. There is no doubt they have been accessing some of the best single-vineyard sites in California for nearly as long as I have been writing about wine. Patz and Hall now produce eight separate Pinot Noirs, which would make them feel at home working in the Cote d-Or, where most vignerons have at least a half dozen different offerings. Tel. (877) 265-6700
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Good deep red-ruby. Cool aromas of blueberry, strawberry and brown spices. Then broad but dry and youthfully restrained in the mouth; there's good underlying fruit here but little in the way of easy sweetness. In a distinctly uncompromising style and a tad dusty on the finish. Will this gain in sweetness with bottle aging?