I'll make a wager that I'm the only wine journalist in the world to have tasted every vintage of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard wines since 1974. Now some smart-alec is going to call and point out that SCMV didn't release a wine until the Estate Pinot Noir of 1975. I just opened one of my last remaining bottles of SCMV 75 and it isn't even browning and still offers tons of fruit. Regarding the 1974, winemaker Ken Burnap made a five gallon Arrowhead water bottle full of wine from leftover grapes on the vineyard he bought just after harvest. SCMV has distribution throughout California and Nevada and quite a few other states.
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This once has real substance. Huge, dark black cherry fruit with something almond-tinged in the bouquet. Earthy-tarry complexity developing and more of that almond in the aftertaste. Plum, rose petal perfume and a little pomegranate. Elegant, dying rose after-flavors.