98/100
Refreshing and long on the palate, the 2021 Pinot Noir The Plow pours a medium ruby hue and is expressive but needs time. It has a touch of reduction and would benefit from a decant if opening young. It opens to reveal a beautiful, elegant perfume of rosewater, tangerine, grenadine, and graphite, followed by a pure, medium-bodied palate with outstanding energy and a weightless feel while retaining a wonderful tannin structure that will feel angular at first to some. It’s long on the palate and is deceiving, as it’s such a pleasure to taste now.
95/100
A well-knit-together wine that shows polish and elegance. Fruit for The Plow 2021 comes from the three upper estate blocks with a unique massale selection of clone 777. Depth and sensuality come to the fore in the aromatics. Alluring notes of violet and rose petals, along with soy-scented umami. There is ample depth from the sous bois and dark fruit. The palate is so put together. Clove and cinnamon give way to mushroom-driven umami and elegantly placed black and red fruits. Savoury character abounds, but this wine's structure provides us with a sense that it will become far more showy in eight or so years.
Lingua Franca
Larry Stone, Dominique Lafon og Thomas Savre. De ikoniske navne står i kø, når det kommer til fortællingen om Lingua Franca. Larry Stone, der er Master Sommelier og en af USA's mest berømte af sin slags, er idémanden, som opkøbte den sagnomspundne Janzen Farm i Willamette Valley i Oregon, USA. Herefter fik han konsulterende assistance af en af Bourgognes mest anerkendte vinproducenter, Dominique Lafon. Målet var at dyrke Pinot Noir og Chardonnay, og her blev Dominique Lafons viden uundværlig. Den sidste del af trekløveren er Thomas Savre, en ung, visionær og virtuos vinmager, der har stået i lære hos selveste Domaine de la Romanée Conti. Med ham som ledende figur i kælderen var Lingua Franca født som et nyt powerhouse i vinverdenen. Siden har de markeret sig som bannerførere for potentialet for Bourgogne-sorterne på amerikansk jord og er efterspurgt af sommelierer verden over til deres vinkort.
