Loring Wine Company is a relatively new wine producer.  Brian Loring, owner, buyw grapes from several vineyard owners in central California, and produces world class Pinot Noir.

The 2003 Rosella's vineyard offering is very cool stuff.  A lot of wine drinkers who cut their teeth on California Pinot in the last year or two, after the success of the Sideways movie will be mystified by this wine.  You see, real Pinot Noir was born in the Burgundy region of France, and it takes on ethereal characteristics there.  Much of what is being produced in California is, in my opinion, just alcoholic cherry coke.  In other words, somewhat fruity, somewhat sweet forgettable juice with no bouquet and no finish.

I do not know how they did it, but this Loring Rosella's vineyard smashes the above stereotype with a sledge hammer.  One sniff from the glass brings out a nose of wet earth, smoked bacon, and dried black fruit.  It smells more like a Bordeux from Pessac-Leognan than anything from Santa Barbara.  Those who like complex wines will dig this stuff.  On the palate, the wine is more conventional, with ripe red cherry, raspberry and mixed black fruit layering across the entire palate.  The finish is smooth, but there is enough tannin to reward anyone who wants to age this for a few years.

Interestingly, the wine comes with a screw top, rather than a cork.  Those who have followed the debate over corks in the last few years will recognize that roughly 10% of corks used in fine wines are bad, and jeopardize the quality of the wine.  Screw tops, although void of any class or romanticism, are eminently reliable.  Now, I personally am of the opinion that corks are preferable to screw tops if you plan to age a wine for a decade or more.  A cork allows microscopic amounts of oxygen to diffuse into the wine, which is needed for the wine to mature.  Many are worried that the rate of oxygen diffusion through a screw top may be too slow (or too fast) to allow proper long term maturation.  I believe that only time will tell whether screw tops are better or worse than corks for long term ageing.  But one thing is for sure;  screw tops will keep your wine fresh for the short term, and eliminates the problem of 10% of wines going bad due to faulty corks.  So it seems to me that although we don't know whether corks or screw tops are best for long term ageing, it is probably true that screw tops are preferable for wines that do not need to be aged, since you eliminate the 10% problem of bad corks, and are not concerned about ageing issues.  Since most California Pinot's are ready to drink on release, they seem to be the perfect wines for screw top closures.  Kudos to Loring Wine Company to have the guts to bring a screw top to a fine wine.

Awesome wine with old an old world bouquet and new world flavors ( and a very very new world closure!)  

3.75 stars

 

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