Bachelder Hanck Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021

The pale red-garnet colour diverts from the dark and minerally nature of the Hanck Vineyard, a pinot that delivers a pronounced scorched-earth-like stony-mineral character alongside a mix of red and black fruit, ferrous and sanguine in the Twenty Mile Bench style. The palate, too, is deceivingly dense and glycerous, a genuine and concentrated mouthful with excellent length and depth – one would not have expected such intensity from such a pale wine. And while it doesn’t have the structure of most from the 2020 vintage, this should provide a great deal of pleasure into the early ’30s, longer than many from 2021- structure is impressive. Arguably the most distinctive pinot in the 2021 Bachelder single vineyard range. Tasted December 2023. Score – 95. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)