2006 Estate Pinot Noir This wine is available for purchase on Indie Winemakers at a discounted rate of $36 plus shipping fees. States Shandel's Oppenlander Vineyard ships to: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming Only 400 cases produced

Accolades - Over 10 major awards including:

• Double Gold Medal (2008 American Wine Society Wine Judging)
• Gold Medal Best of Class (2008 West Coast Wine Competition)
• Gold Medal (2008 Sonoma – Marin Fair Wine Competition)

About this Mendocino County Estate Grown Pinot Noir

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this outstanding Pinot Noir was hand-crafted from vine to bottle by Shandel's Oppenlander Vineyard. This featured wine drinks way above its' price class. During our tasting, we found ourselves discussing this wine at length. It was really interesting to pull apart and describe in detail all of the aromas and flavors that the wine conveys. We are proud to offer you a great wine at a great price.

Food and wine

We suggest you pair the 2006 Estate Grown Pinot Noir with Shandels's recipe for Barbecued Meatballs

This can be make with any kind of ground meat – Shandel's likes it with Elk Burger best. 

Preparation time about 1 hour.

Meat balls:

• 1 ½ lbs ground beef, venison, or elk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup soft bread crumbs
• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Shortening

Sauce:

• ½ cup catsup
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp pepper

Combine ground meat, egg, milk, bread crumbs, onion, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  Make tablespoon sized meatballs.  Brown meatballs in shortening.  Put all ingredients for sauce in a pan and bring to a boil.  Pour this over the meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Serves 4-6

 

2006 Estate Pinot Noir This wine is available for purchase on Indie Winemakers at a discounted rate of $36 plus shipping fees. States Shandel's Oppenlander Vineyard ships to: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming Only 400 cases produced

 

Indie Winemakers' Tasting Notes

Our mission is to provide unbiased opinions of the wine being offered. These notes come from up to 10 guests who tasted this wine in a blind tasting format (wine is concealed so their identity is unknown). Why this format? Tasting blind completely throws out any hype associated with a certain winery, style, price point, etc; it forces the taster to accept what is in the glass without any predetermined notions.

Our tasters are not wine professionals, but a cross-representation of professions where the common denominator is our love for wine. We utilize Robert Parker's Glossary of Wine Terms to help write our comments. In addition, we utilize the aroma wheel to enhance our ability to describe the complexity of wine flavor.

Tasting Notes - 2005 Estate Grown Pinot Noir

• Group Tasting Notes: Dark red in color, clear thick teardrops. On the nose, we got lots of black berries, slight earthy terroir, a slight amount of coconut and some cedar. Lush mouthfeel with flavors of ripe red fruits like strawberry and raspberry. The finish is long with structured acidity.

2006 Estate Pinot Noir This wine is available for purchase on Indie Winemakers at a discounted rate of $36 plus shipping fees. States Shandel's Oppenlander Vineyard ships to: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming Only 400 cases produced

 

Wine Technical Data
Blend	100% Pinot Noir (Dijon Clone 114 – 40%, Dijon Clone 115 – 40%, and Pommard – 20 %)
Appellation	Mendocino County – Coastal (Shandel’s Oppenlander Vineyard, Comptche, California)
Harvest Dates	September 28, 2006
Sugar at Harvest	24.2 - 26.0 degrees Brix
Fermentation	After 4 days on cold soak the cap is punched down 3 x daily during fermentation of 11 days.  Maximum temperature of the must is 76F.  Once the ML inoculation has taken place the young wine is stirred and topped twice monthly until April when it is racked off gross lees and blended for the first time.  No sulphite is added until this first racking.  At bottling the total SO2 content is below 100, typically in the 80-90 ppm range.
Aging / Cooperage	100% French oak aged 11 months: 30% new Cadus, Remond and Marsannay (Allier forest), 30% one-year old, 40% neutral
Alcohol	14.8% by volume
Acidity	TA: .535, pH: 3.65