2016 Peter Michael Pinot Noir Le Caprice

The 2016 Pinot Noir le Caprice is pale to medium ruby-purple colored with an incredible perfume of red roses, lilacs and cinnamon stick with a beautiful red berry core of wild strawberries, raspberries, cranberries and underbrush with touches of iron ore and wild sage plus a waft of cedar. The palate is medium-bodied, elegant and refreshing with loads of minerally layers and a long, uplifting finish. 895 cases produced.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Le Caprice is flat out gorgeous! Black cherries, currants, toasted oak, caramelized raspberries, and exotic flower notes all soar from the glass of this rich, full-bodied, yet elegant, seamless Pinot Noir. It has fine, fine tannin, no hard edges, beautiful intensity, and a gorgeous finish. It shows more and more forest floor and earthy/leather notes with time in the glass and is a world-class, elegant, seamless, gorgeous wine. Located north of Napa Valley, in the Knights Valley AVA of Sonoma, Peter Michael utilizes the incredible talent of Frenchman Nicolas Morlet (whose brother Luc runs Morlet Estate in Napa, and was previously the winemaker at Peter Michael). These classic, traditionally made wines certainly have an old world feel/style, yet never lose their California soul. They produce two brilliant Bordeaux Blanc look-alikes, a bevy of Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, and three Bordeaux blends. It can be a complex lineup to wrap your head around, but the cuvees show singular characters and the quality is off the charts.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Le Caprice is bold, juicy and exuberant. Super-ripe red berry, hard candy, new French oak, mint, sweet spice and blood orange infuse this succulent, opulent Pinot Noir. This is an especially flamboyant style for the Sonoma Coast. Readers will have a hard time keeping their hands off the 2016. Even at this early stage, it is racy and ready to provide pleasure.