I tried to tell myself when I saw the colour everything was normal.  It’s a 2006 Pinot, right?  That’s almost 10 years old!  It can age a little right?  Perfectly normal for it to be dark marsala garnet with brown edges, rife with sediment.  When I smelled it I tried to tell myself everything was normal.  It’s a bit ripe and maderized, that is all.  Would we call that burnt?  It is just the ‘darker’ version of Pinot Noir bottlings, right?  Sultry and brooding, right?  No!  This is an over-oaked, over-ripe, smoldering turd which proves YET AGAIN hi-alcohol wines are unbalanced and deserve no ink.  Everything in the nose is gone.  Everything in the taste is gone.  Everything in the finish is gone.  Remaining is watery, oxidized, oak.  16-3 my friends.  Stick to Syrah, Consilience.  Syrah you can kinda jack the life out of with ripeness and you can somewhat ‘get away’ with it on the restaurant list because it forgives a tad more sins than Pinot does.  16-3 pinot.  So sad.  ◊  for making a shitty wine; Extra point for insulting Pinot.