We managed to hold off opening our lone remaining bottle of Jack Creek 2009 Kruse Vineyard pinot noir until tonight. After all, we missed the official Open That Bottle night which we try to celebrate every year. More on Open That Bottle in a moment. Now the wine.
The Kruse Vineyard is owned and maintained by Doug and Sabrina Kruse, the owners of Jack Creek Cellars. Doug is the winemaker, Sabrina handles the business side and the whole operation is pretty wonderful. This wine has aromas of cola, rose petals, and chocolate-covered cherries with a touch of anise. The flavors are long and complex. On the palate the wine opens with silken tannins and a hint of spice, developing into densely flavored blackberries and ripe plums. The finish is long and smooth, featuring notes of earth and chocolate. 4 corks and I’m tempted to add a fifth just for this one.
Open That Bottle Night has a Twitter hashtag (#OTBN) and is hosted by PalatePress.com at http://palatepress.com/2013/02/wine/a-40-year-romance-a-40-year-wine-open-that-bottle-night-2013/. It was created by John Brecher and Dottie Gaiter when they wrote their weekly column for the Wall Street Journal. The idea is simple. Every wine lover has a couple of bottles in the cellar that they’re saving for a special occasion. John and Dottie made the point that, with wine, every night is a special night. When they left the Wall Street Journal in 2009 we wrote a column lamenting their departure. Since then we have stopped reading the Journal’s wine columns. They are neither informative nor informed. We miss John and Dottie.
Unfortunately, this year OTBN was February 11. By the time I discovered that fact, we were well into the bottle. Oh, well, still terrific stuff!
