1962 Martin Ray Pinot Noir - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (6/19/2007)
From a bottle with a low mid-shoulder fill level on its Burgundy-style bottle. The cork completely crumbled on extraction and the wine needed to be strained. The nose was initially dirty and maderized but over time this mostly blew off leaving a funky acidic nose with a hint of acetone. Color was brown-red, clear at the rim. Palate showed a medium-light body, little fruit left, with acid predominating. Despite a million reasons for a contrary outcome, this wine was drinkable and absolutely not dead. It tasted like 25-year old Burgundy from a mediocre vintage; not bad for 45-year old wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains. It lasted in the glass, actually improving as some of the funky aromatics blew off. It's too bad the cork let this wine down, it seems that it once had a fine balance. (83 pts.)