Mount Eden Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate Santa Cruz Mountains 2020

Jumping Jehoshaphat!!! MOUNT EDEN’s Estate Pinot Noir on the Last Bottle board this fine Tuesday!!! Absolutely CRAY-CRAY, best we’ve ever had price on this Santa Cruz Mountain ICON – heck, this is even less than we’ve had on their not-so-shabby, super-second label/nearby “other” estate Domaine Eden! If you don’t know the LEGEND that is Mount Eden – where HAVE you been?!?! This is one of the OG “Boutique” wineries in California – been bottling simply top-notch BANGERS about 50 miles south of San Fran since 1945 – and one of my longtime favorite wineries! Oh, baby…did we score today, or what?!?!

One sip, and I’m already dialing up my favorite butcher on speed dial (Fatted Calf for da win!) – ‘cause this beauty is BEGGING for some duck confit cassoulet. At this simply ga-ga price, I can even use half a bottle for cooking in the cassoulet, leaving half a bottle for the chef (ie; me) cooking the cassoulet, and then open another bottle for drinking WITH the cassoulet!!! I see no issues here, do you?! Oh, lordy – the heavenly duo of raspberries and spearmint, then bright and percolating red cherries, cranberry and rooibos tea, lavender, milk chocolate shavings, blood orange zest, charred rosemary, a bit of coffee-esque torrefaction, with a smoky, meaty decadence adding a bit of weight to all that bright, fresh, and bubbly cool-climate Pinot character. These are some seriously happy 30+ year old vines, sitting at over 2,000 feet in a MINISCULE 8 acre parcel atop Santa Cruz’s Mount Eden – and let’s just go ahead and make the biblical connection – this is pretty much PARADISE for California Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay, and even – don’t ask me how or why – their fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon)!

You saw the whole 93 POINTS, right? This is really hitting its stride five years in, and damned if it doesn’t look prime to carry on like a wayward son for another decade plus! We got every last bottle the winery would part with – but at this monumental price – don’t expect it to last more than a couple of hours! I got my case – how ‘bout you?

Taking home some UNICORNS today – while they last!!!