Treve Ring's Top 10
Treve Ring's Top 10 BC Pinot Noirs:
2016 Micro Cuvée Pinot Noir, McLean Creek Rd
"Meyer Family Vineyards have carved a niche for themselves with their single vineyard pinot noirs and chardonnays. This special Micro Cuvee is the best barrel selections of the vintage, and sourced from their organically farmed estate McLean Creek Road Vineyard's sloping alluvial and glacial gravels and sandy loams. Micro Cuvee 2016 is predominantly Pommard 91, with one quarter clone 115. All went into French oak (1/3 new) for 11 months before bottling. Plush cherry, dark plum, black raspberry fill the soft palate, one framed with finely structured tannins to a salty finish. The palate moves slow and confidently, drawing us along with it. Generous, with restraint, this is an elegantly showy wine, the top of the portfolio, and very much in the MFV style."
2016 Micro Cuvée Pinot Noir, McLean Creek Road
"The Micro-Cuvée is meant to be the best of the Meyer pinots every year, although it appears the Old Block is pushing for similar status. All 150 cases are grown at McLean Creek Road and the MC is winemaker Chris Carson and his personal selection of the best barrels, what he likes to call the, “most harmonious blend.” They picked the pinot at 24 to 25.5 brix and it’s 75/25 mix of clone 91 and 115. The oak is a mix of one new French oak 500-litre puncheons, and two one-year old French oak puncheons. A joyous 13.5 percent alcohol, it's awash in silky, textured pinot, redolent in rich earthy dark plum flavours, bright acidity and length and a long persistent, mouth-filling finish. Early on, 2016 looked a lot like 2015 with warm dry conditions, early budburst and a warm advanced harvest, but cool and wet weather brought all that to a halt in July, extending the season back into a more normal and acceptable time frame for pinot noir maturation. A cooler harvest saw very little shrivel on the younger berries. Early September showers retreated, leaving a perfect fall finish. The harvest commenced on September 21 and ran through Oct 5. A must buy for pinot lovers."