2010 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Katherine Lindsay Estate Vineyard Cuvée Agustina

The 2010 Pinot Noir Cuvee Agustina Katherine Lindsay Estate is one of the biggest and most powerful wines in the range. An intense, broad-shouldered wine, the 2010 Lindsay has tons of fruit, but at the same time, the tannins lack the polish of the best wines in the range. It will be interesting to see if the wine finds better balance with further time in the bottle, but right now I am not sure that will happen. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. It is always fascinating to sit down with Paul Hobbs and his winemaker Megan Baccitich, as these Chardonnays and Pinots run the gamut of styles, clones and sites in Sonoma. According to Hobbs, the 2010 harvest was two weeks later than normal, while 2011 was three weeks later than normal! One of the other main differences is that temperatures increased toward the end of 2010, but stayed very much on the cool side in 2011. My impression is that when all is said and done, vintage 2011 will turn out to be superior to 2010 for this range. As always, the Hobbs house style does a very nice job of capturing both textural richness and plenty of site specificity. Tel. (707) 824-9879

The 2010 Pinot Noir Cuvee Agustina Lindsay Estate blossoms beautifully in the glass with dark red fruits, spices, licorice and new leather. Plush and generous, the 2010 Cuvee Agustina impresses for its depth and exceptional overall sense of harmony.