The third hot vintage of my career, and the previous practice shows itself well. While the wines have always had the heft of a warm vintage, the fruit has been beautiful, and the acidity nicely balanced for a warm vintage. Tannins have at times shown a little wonky, but in the past year or two everything seems to be settling into place. The Pinot Noirs are showing fine tertiary tones while retaining fruit and the range of aromatics offered with stem inclusion.
The Lazarus and Hommage bottlings are sowing well, though I feel both will be better in a decanter the Hommage really seems to want the air. Both show lush darker fruits, subois, and loads of spice. The Hommage has dark earth and a smokey/stony note to it.
The Souris needs enjoys an hour to breath but is definitely in a lovely window at that point. Lovely red and black fruits, black cherry specifically and ripe strawberry play with exotic spice notes, everything really seems to be harmonious and in balance here.
2009 Whistling Ridge is the star of the vintage at this time. Smokey in a perfectly Burgundian way, the wine is moving from primarily fruit dominant to being controlled by secondary aspects that add layers to the fruit, and the vineyard is guarded enough in nature to avoid the sins of hot vintages. Drink now(with a decant)-2030.
*Under natural cork there is always a distinct amount of bottle variation. As the wines age, this variation becomes more distinct. Regarding the notes here, all wines have been tasted recently, but for all bottles YMMV.*
This post covers Matello wines.**