In Due Time
2001 Joseph Swan Vineyards Pinot Noir
Trenton Estate Vineyard
Russian River Valley
$46.95
www.swanwinery.com
While France may indeed have her La Tâche and Romanée Conti, it must be acknowledged that she was the first to enjoy a powerful advantage: time was in her favor. Generations of experience and invaluable insight were collected during more than a few seasons tending and pruning and hobbling about the vines of Clos de Vougeot. Here, New World vineyards are planted by dreamers, brows furrowed with hope, and most only within the last two or three generations. Here, growers survey new sites daily as they search for that synergy of skill and sunshine, budwood and sweat that culminate in a great glass of pinot. I sense Joseph Swan was just that sort of man: singular, visionary and hopeful.
Joseph Swan’s 2001 Pinot Noir was deep and transparent plum-red in the glass. With aromas of red raspberry, black cherry and currant, the palate is pleased with both high-toned, bright fruit flavors and darker, more brooding textures. This wine was finely balanced between bright and dark fruits presenting a mouthfeel rich with lean muscularity. With its contribution of cedar, vanilla and Asian spice (clove and coriander?), oak plays an active role in this wine’s impression on the palate. Yet, never was this overdone or out of place: this pinot provides fruit with weight and power enough to buttress such good oak! Powerful and aromatically engaging, this Russian River Valley pinot noir drank lean with medium texture, finishing long and deliciously dry. This was remarkably satisfying wine.
In short, Swan’s Trenton Estate Vineyard is serious pinot noir worthy of a cellar and pinot that encourages confidence that more of America’s great vineyards will surely be discovered in due time. Highly recommended!