Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2006

Rodney Strong Estates is one of Sonoma's longest-established vineyards, growing Pinot since 1968 according to their website.

It's a site a like a lot, with a great deal of information about the growing conditions of each wine. Isn't it nice to know that this Pinot Noir suffered a rainy spring but, thanks to a hot July, it didn't finish being picked until October?

I bought this wine for a couple of reasons. I expect to be in that part of Sonoma in a couple of weeks, and let my eagerness to taste some of their wines get the best of me. And the LCBO notes caught my eye, too, as did the fact that this wine won multiple awards.

I'm not convinced. Despite the winery's stated commitment to allow "grapes from each vineyard and growing region to express their intrinsic character", I found that the grape was overwhelmed by the new French oak barrels.

Here's what I mean:

This Pinot has a lovely light raspberry juice colour. It smelled of raspberries, too, and smoke. More inhaling brought notes of vanilla and toast.

Vanilla and toast. They're the scents not of the grape but of the barrel, common in many of the Chardonnays that have begun to go out of style. The new oak barrels are charred on the inside and these aromas come from the blackened wood.

And when I tasted the wine, that's what I got - lots of toasty flavour, with a hit of sour cherry to follow. The toast stayed right to the finish.

After I finished my tasting note, I poured a glass, then another. With each sip, the toast and vanilla became more pronounced, overwhelming the wine. Those poor grapes, which had survived rain and heat, were finally undone by being left too long in too new a barrel.

I'd still like to stop by Rodney Strong Estates. Perhaps I can find some wine that expresses the grape, too.