ChangeMe 
Grape Stomper
Posts: 198
 | | 05-17-2004 03:40 PM |
| Opened bottle and let sit for two hours prior to tasting. First taste was not good it tasted artificially sweet almost like Nutrasweet and my wife thought it tasted cheap. So we put this aside and came back to it four hours later and it had really come together with nice fruit (which was there earlier but fake sweet) and vanilla and a mouthful of chocolate on the finish. This may not be typical as I had just received these earlier in the week (bottle shock) and it has just recently been bottled (more bottle shock). In the end it really was a nice wine but it scared me earlier in the evening.  | | |
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Eric LeVine
Grape Sorter
Posts: 384
| | 05-28-2004 07:30 AM |
| - 2002 Pride Mountain Merlot [Spring Mountain District, Napa/Sonoma, California, USA] 93 pts. (5/26/2004)
Wowza, this Merlot is wide open and screaming right out of the bottle with a spicy and exuberant nose showing coffee and roasted plum. On the palate this wine OOZES with chocolate and espresso, very nicely mixing bittersweet elements and showing none of the oversweetness that I occasionally find in Pride Merlot. The finish is long and harmonious, and I can't remember ever tasting a more distinct element of brewed coffee on the finish of a wine before. I'm quite amazed at how well this is drinking already with very smooth tannins and excellent balance. This wine does leave that nice drying element on your teeth that reminds you there is plenty of structure here. It is not quite the powerhouse that the 2001 Merlot is, but it is a darned nice wine! With a few hours of air, the palate did start to shed some of the bitter elements and show a lot more sweetness, but frankly I thought the wine was most interesting straight out of the bottle when it was still somewhat tight and less giving.
DAY 2: This has settled down nicely and shed most of the overt sweetness that started to take over. Now it is back to being a beautiful, poised, and surprisingly elegant elixir showing more espresso notes, beautiful vibrancy and purity and excellent length. Really delicious. Bumping from a day 1 score of 92 to 93 points. This one needs some time to settle, but it's fun stuff!
Posted from CellarTracker! | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts: 198
| | 05-28-2004 05:09 PM |
| Eric, I really liked your notes and think I must have hit it at it's "overt sweetness" time frame with the 2 hour decant I did. I also think I probably opened it too soon after receiving it 3 days before and that it had just bottled by the winery. This is my first Pride wine so I have nothing to go on as far as their previous wines. I have 5 left so one of these days I will open a bottle and pretend I am in the tasting room and go from there.  | | | |
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Eric LeVine
Grape Sorter
Posts: 384
| | 05-30-2004 09:08 PM |
| Quote:
Eric,
I really liked your notes and think I must have hit it at it's "overt sweetness" time frame with the 2 hour decant I did. I also think I probably opened it too soon after receiving it 3 days before and that it had just bottled by the winery.
This is my first Pride wine so I have nothing to go on as far as their previous wines. I have 5 left so one of these days I will open a bottle and pretend I am in the tasting room and go from there.
Thanks. The Pride wines can be a bit sweet and do definitely need some time to settle. The Cab is nice and chewy and darker in profile, although I recall someone once mentioning doing a blind tasting of their Cab, Cab Franc, Merlot and Sangiovese and frankly having a very hard time telling the varietals apart. There is a very distinct sweetness and brown sugar profile that pervades all of these at first until they have a chance to air out, settle down, and show more of their varietal character. I just always find these wines to be fun! | | | |
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Dr_Tannin
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2498
| | 06-02-2004 02:03 AM |
| Agree-
The wine is indeed sweeter and less full bodied and less tannic than 2001's version. It's a good medium priced wine, but I wouldn't buy more than a couple. | | | |
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texaswino
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2184
| | 07-06-2004 12:54 AM |
| Opened and decanted. Tasted immediately to get an early fix. Initially this is a little closed on the nose. Aromas of black raspberries and coffee. Similar notes on the palate with sweet oak and more coffee notes. After an hour or so in the decanter the flavors really started to bloom. Plum, blackberry, and more coffee notes. Nice tannins and dark chocolate notes on the finish. The 2001 is a bit more intense and rich but this is a very nice merlot in my book. I would rate it 91-92 now with a chance to go higher with a little time. Should drink well for 8-10 years. I am a big fan of Pride Mountain wines.  I would love to try the Reserve someday if I ever get on the list. | | | |
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wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12532
| | 07-06-2004 01:05 AM |
| Good deal. Sounds like I need to stick with the plan and let mine sit until October or so. | | | Joe-----Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
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texaswino
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2184
| | 07-06-2004 01:07 AM |
| I think that would be a good bet. Even though I enjoyed it tonight I will be waiting until the fall to try the next one and trying to spread them out over the next few years. I still have several 01's to drink as well. | | | |
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skwid
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5452
| | 07-06-2004 02:24 AM |
| TW, make it out to Oakland some time and I can open some Pride reserves for you. | | | |
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DJ Hombre
Napa Valley, California
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1367
| | 07-06-2004 04:24 AM |
| Skwiddy, can I come? | | | |
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skwid
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5452
| | 07-06-2004 04:32 AM |
| DJ, you gotta get TW to come out for a visit. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas (pretty fall colors here)
Master of Wine
Posts: 11291
| | 07-07-2004 03:35 AM |
| I saw some of these at Pete's Wine in Bellevue, WA for $52 if anyone is interested. Nice wine store. | | | |
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texaswino
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2184
| | 07-07-2004 05:05 PM |
| I've seen some going for around $50 on wine commune. | | | |
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Matt Letson
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1339
| | 08-13-2004 04:15 PM |
| I opened this last night and decanted for about 45 minutes prior to consuming. I think Eric Levine's notes and score are right-on target. I got quite a bit of light milk chocolate and brown sugar as well. Maybe even a dash of cinammon.
A very enjoyable and balanced wine. Not overly tannic and ready to drink now and over the next 5 years. I enjoyed this merlot every bit as much as WS 2003 Wine of Year merlot, probably more. For me, this was a 93 point effort--glad I have more! | | | |
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Sacred Cow
Wine Thief
Posts: 2764
| | 10-17-2004 11:57 AM |
| Purchased off a restaurant wine list last night for $60. Decanted, and drank over a two hour period. Paired with a filet mignon.
Absolutely knock out nose. Blackberry, raspberry, milk chocolate and oak on the nose. The palate followed through, and added some rather prominent coffee notes, especially towards the finish. Medium bodied.
Early on, the finish had slightly astringent tannins, which disapperared when pairing with the steak (or maybe it was just the additional time to open). Long, luxuriant finish. Very well balanced at this point. No need for coffee after dinner, this wine was an acceptable substitute.
Drinking beautifully right now, I am half tempted to open another bottle at home today while watching football, maybe even side by side with the cab franc. Jill's comment: "This is the best wine I have had in a long time."
My rating 93. The way this is drinking right now, my remaining three bottles will not make old bones. I am not convinced that Pride wines age well, I would prefer to catch the up front fruit it is displaying right now. Not as structured and intense as the 2001 version, I enjoyed this version far more for its balance today. My 2001s are being listed at WineBid tonight, in case any of you prefer that version.
Mike | | | |
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Budman
Philly Suburbs
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire
Posts: 23705
| | 10-17-2004 12:39 PM |
| Great notes, Mike. Thanks. | | | |
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Landshark
Barrel Racker
Posts: 1894
| | 10-18-2004 02:43 AM |
| I really enjoyed the bottle we had tonight | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Picker
Posts: 14
| | 10-20-2004 11:47 AM |
| mbansek:
$60 on a wine list?? Wow!!
You'll have to take me to this restaurant when I come your way sometime.
This wine was an enigma to me when I tried it 6 months ago. Very closed and woody. Glad to see that it has come alive. | | | |
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Sacred Cow
Wine Thief
Posts: 2764
| | 10-20-2004 12:34 PM |
| HDW:
I will be more than happy to take you to the restaurant whenever you make it out this way! There were a few other stunning bargains on the list too, such as '01 Stag's Leap Petite Sirah for $42, '99 Cinq Cepages for $75, etc. Absolutely unheard of in Colorado, at least until Elway opens his restaurant this month. I talked to the person who consulted on their wine list, their plans are to price all medium to high end bottles at retail, plus or minus 5%. Sure hope the food is good, because the wine pricing sounds more than a little impressive.
I also had a bottle of this at the winery in April, on release day, and it showed nothing then. I picked up three bottles just to complete a case. That is what led me to try this one on the list, to see if I wanted to keep them or punt them. My decision was to keep them.
Mike | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Sorter
Posts: 267
| | 10-20-2004 02:47 PM |
| God bless them. I'd go out to dinner a lot more with pricing like that. | | | |
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