Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir 2005

From Pommard clones, this delivers distinctive Pinot Noir character of black cherry, sour cherry and spice in a vibrant wine of power and elegance. Saintsbury's house style and the essence of the appellation show most clearly in this Carneros bottling where they work with more than a dozen vineyards located throughout Carneros but with a heavier emphasis on the Napa Valley side of the AVA. Reverence for the appellation is most obvious by the gentle handling the grapes and wine receive from vineyard to bottle, critical to making high caliber Pinot Noir that maintains the mark of the vineyard, rather than simply the mark of the producer.