Light clear garnet with wide clear edges. A deep leather broken-twig leads you in to the polished fruit and there is no looking back. I tasted this wine briefly at an industry gathering and knew instantly I had to have it on the blog. Tailored and trim, but oh so overflowing with disastrous round sharp Rimrock fruit. Why do I like this Pinot so much? Is it the Jolly Rancher approachability? Is it the earth and cola burning tire fondant sweeping through the nose and dumping you out mercilessly into a sweet delirium of black cherry curvily sheathed but barely contained in tailored green vegetal? Is it the ripe orange-skin curling around the edges of tongue mid-palate, intensifying and concentrating the black fruit or is it the steely mineralific tannin bringing in a perfect bitter & brilliant finish? I can’t decide but this small-production stunner deserves to be on every Pinot-freak’s shelf.
2012 VELVET BEE Pinot Noir Rimrock Vineyard Santa Rita Hills Santa Barbara Co 14.2
