2005 Nickel & Nickel Spring Hill Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

14.5% alc., $55, 321 cases. Nickel & Nickel is the sister winery to Far Niente founded in 1997 and dedicated to single-vineyard wines including Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir. This wine was aged 10 months in French oak (40% new, 60% once-used). · The color is dark, dark, dark ruby. The complex nose offers a dried flower potpourri, black cherry, oak and cigar box. Powered by a healthy core of dark fruits, this unique wine offers mushroom, game, forest floor and herbal overtones, It is broad-shouldered, but soft in the mouth with well-concealed tannins. Atypical for Pinot Noir, it will appeal to those who like the muscular and exotic expression of this varietal. Reviewed October 4, 2007

Winery: Nickel & Nickel
From article: Picking Plump Pinot in Petaluma