The Data

Country   USA

Appellation   Sonoma Coast

Varietal   Pinot Noir

Retail Price   $55

ABV   14.5%

Score   4.5 Stars/94 points

In the Glass

Brilliant, deep ruby color.

The aromatics are intense, offering scents of red cherry and sweet cranberry with supporting notes of black tea, rose petals, and five spice.

The palate confirms the nose delivering a red and black fruits-driven core with flavors of blackberry, plum, violet essence, and hints of anise. The finish is long and lingering with ripe tannins.

Full-bodied and ideally balanced with a silky and robust texture.

Cool Factor

Vintage after vintage Tongue Dancer never fails to impress as their Pinots are ultra balanced and full of flavor and personality making it the pinnacle of cool.

Value Grade

The Tongue Dancer Wines have proven their worth being stylish and complex, as well as being exceptionally rare (fewer than 300 cases made).

Analysis

This is the tenth vintage of Tongue Dancer Wines’ Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and as usual, it did not disappoint. How time flies… This expression of Pinot is made by grapes sourced from vineyards in the Sonoma Coast appellation. We have reviewed every vintage since 2015 and while each wine is unique and always an expression of the vintage, each respective wine has scored 94 points or better. How’s that for consistency? In 2021 most of the fruit was sourced from the Putnam Vineyard with a bit of press wine from the Lakeview Vineyard that was featured in this year’s Foxtrot bottling. For the Pinot geeks out there (we say with great affection) the clones used were Pommard, Calera, 777, 115, Flowers, and 114. The fruit was all hand-picked in the early morning hours — de-stemmed and not crushed. It was fermented in small, open-top fermenters and then aged in French oak (33% new) for a period of 11 months. It was bottled unfined and lightly filtered in August of 2022.

How to Enjoy

This wine really needs nothing but a glass but the robust texture and bright acidity would pair perfectly with a grilled beef tenderloin or grilled leg of lamb.