TN: 2000 Kislter Cuvee Elizabeth Occidental Vineya

[tjaehnigen]

2000 Kislter Cuvee Elizabeth Occidental Vineyard Pinot Noir

I had this as my second wine of the evening while dining at Veritas in NYC with a business vendor of mine.

I have to tell you, I was blown awayby this wine. Completely blown away. I had read Jones' notes on this, and despite his indications it was '...only a 95...', when I saw it on the list, I had to order it. I mean, when esle was I ever going to have a chance to experience this (besides, while the vendor rep was very willing to let me spend his money, I had to keep it sort of reasonable...).

This wine was tasted out of what appeared to be Spiegelau Burgundy stems. This wine was not decanted, the sommelier pretty much just opened it and poured. We drank it over about two hours.

This wine had a deeply rich dark color too it. The nose was one of the most incredible noses on a wine I have ever smelled. This wine had an even better nose than the 1997 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Grandi Annate Riserva that Dr. tannin shared at an offline in DC with Vino Me and Tannin Pig last September, which is saying something IMO. I got huge wafts of raspberry, strawberry buttercream, roses and cream and even a little cotton candy. I was in heaven.

Upon imbibing this beautiful wine, the nose did not belie the taste. All of those flavors followed the nose onto my tastebuds. Astonishingly plush and lascious, this wine had, as Jones put it '...awesome concentration for a Pinot Noir...' There was loads of fruit that was propped up by gobs of spider-woven web of perfect tannins, The acidity that you would hope for in this wine was not completely there, perhaps hiding behind all of that fruit. I would agree with Jones' assessment that this wine might not last a really long time, but, as superbly as this wine is drinking now, who the hell cares?!!

This wine wins 97+ TJ points

[inventolux]

Every bottle of Kistler I have sampled has always been a pleasurable experience. For the money, I think they are great values as well. Their pinot noirs are also amazingly rich and complex but very difficult to find.