2009 Marcassin, Marcassin Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

RP98 "The 2009 Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard is a gorgeous, clearly California version of a grand cru from Burgundy, such as Clos Saint-Denis or Clos de la Roche. This deep plum/garnet-colored wine offers intense berry fruit along with forest floor, spice box, earth and loads of plum, cherry and strawberry notes, moving toward darker fruits, as well as earthy, autumnal, foresty scents. The wine is full-bodied, with great intensity, sweet tannins and good acidity. Drink it over the next decade or more." RP Aug 2015
,br> Robert Parker writes, "The acreage on the 20-acre Marcassin Estate Vineyard is equally split between Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir parcels are planted with multiple clones, although the so-called Calera clone seems to have dominance over the others. All of these Pinot Noirs trend toward resembling grand crus from Morey-Saint-Denis in Northern Côtes de Nuits in Burgundy, given their forest floor, mushroom, sweet plum, currant and cherry notes. They are very sexy, lush and certainly capable of 10-15 years of cellaring, possibly longer. As we’re just coming up on 19 years on the 1996, Marcassin’s debut vintage, one thing that’s interesting is that the ripeness in their parcels is almost completely different each year, depending on the growing season. While some of the critics of these wines have claimed that they are relatively high in alcohol, the truth is that some are as low as the upper 13% range, and the ripest they have ever been tends to be just over 15%." Published: Aug 27, 2015