2005 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

(a blend of 14 vineyards) Medium red-ruby. Captivating aromas of black fruits, violet, bitter chocolate, smoked meat and underbrush. Sweet, dense and expressive in the mouth, with briary black fruit flavors complicated by violet and meat and supported by a firm mineral spine. Tannins are firm but sweet. This is better than a "regional" pinot has any right to be, but then many Sonoma Coast vineyards carried tiny crop loads in 2005 due to poor weather during the flowering.