Carmel Road
2011 Panorama Vineyard Monterey Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir •Panorama Vineyard
California: Monterey County: Arroyo Seco
Mission Briefing
Panoramic Perception
Today’s epic Pinot Noir hails from the Carmel Road Winery, whose mission is to craft Pinot Noir that expresses the unique terroir of its Monterey County vineyard sources.
We are proud to be the only online wine merchant to be showcasing this exemplary wine. Heck, you might not even be able to find this wine at a bottle shop - or the winery itself. They love us enough to have given us exclusive access.
This Carmel Road 2011 Panorama Vineyard Monterey Pinot Noir is the inaugural release from the Panorama Vineyard, whose close row spacing makes for smaller berries of greater intensity. The grapes here benefit from super-cooled winds from the Monterey Bay, placing additional beneficial stress on the grapes.
Today’s wine is dark and very concentrated with none of the residual sugar found in something like a Bel Glos Pinot Noir. Rather, this wine presents bold flavors that are bolstered by great structure and integrated tannins, with enough bright fruit to make it a compelling pairing for something rich.
We offer you this fantastic wine with our very hearty Wine Spies recommendation and we invite you to taste this inaugural release - and several releases to come. We can’t wait to see how the fruit from this great vineyard progresses.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Deep purple red at its heart, with a touch of red ruby at the very edge of the glass. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Lush and aromatic, with fresh dark cherry, strawberry, and raspberry blended with tobacco leaf and hints of sweet earth, unsweetened cherry cola, cherry blossom, and sweet spice. |
| Taste: | Well rounded on the palate, with fruit flavors of sweet plum, raspberry, and blueberry laid atop cola, cedar wood shavings, toasted oak spice, sage, and rosemary. |
| Finish: | A bold wine, with everything you want in a Pinot, the finish is long and highlighted by great acidity and velvety tannins. |
| Pairing: | Fresh salmon filet, perfectly grilled on cedar planks. |
What the Winery Says
The 2011 Panorama Vineyard Pinot Noir opens with fragrant aromas of cherry blossom and perfume, complemented by flavors of cherry and red plum and hints of cola. A silky texture and smooth finish linger long after the wine is gone.
The 2011 growing season started later than normal. We encountered some of the coolest temperatures we’ve seen in the past 10 years. This, along with higher-than-normal spring rainfall, lowered overall yields. The cool weather persisted throughout the summer months, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly on the vine well into a later-than-average harvest. The resulting wines offer balanced acidity as well as complexity of texture and varietal character.
92 Point Review - Wine Lines Online Opaque dark crimson color. The beguiling nose delivers raspberry, cherry cola, plum, clove, and cinnamon, with an additional dark flower perfume. Silky and feminine in the mouth, showing little heat despite the 15% alcohol content, this is a powerful, fleshy, fruit-forward Pinot Noir that perfectly expresses its cool-climate Monterey County heritage. A stunning Pinot Noir at this price point. Carmel Road has been known for years for its solid renditions of Burgundian varietals. This single vineyard bottling has set a new standard for the winery. Enjoy now and over the next eight years.
- Winemaker
- Ivan Giotenov
- Accolades
- 92 Points - Wine Lines Online
- Appellation
- Arroyo Seco, Monterey County, California
- Vineyard
- Panorama Vineyard
- Fruit Variety
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Farming
- 100% certified sustainable
- ABV
- 15.0%
About the Winery
Carmel Road Winery is located in the heart of Monterey County where the air is crisp and the tempo is relaxed and measured. Most mornings our sustainably grown vineyards are shrouded in fog. Most afternoons a brisk wind blows from the Monterey Bay southward along the ridge tops and bench lands of Salinas Valley delivering fresh, cool maritime air. For years our region was considered too cold and windy to grow world-class grapes. Today, Monterey boasts some of the most highly-acclaimed AVAs in all of California. Since 1999 Carmel Road has been producing stunning Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from some of Monterey’s finest bench land vineyards using innovative and sustainable farming and winemaking practices.