David Bruce Winery

Much of the Boomer Plus generation identifies with David Bruce as one of the original houses of Pinot Noir in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That’s not surprising, as the young Dr. David established his eponymous vineyard and winery in 1964 to dedicate his life to producing the best Pinot in the land. Inspired by brilliant Burgundy examples from Domaine La Romanée Conti and La Tâche back in the 1950s, he sought tips and tricks from mentor Martin Ray to get off to a decent start. He’s had many vintages over the decades to work on this elusive, enlightening and often frustrating goal: and some of those vintages have been darned close to perfect. So many factors come into play in the Pinot game. And sometimes Mother Nature is a cruel umpire: even when you think you’ve got the perfect swing, she might call you OUT.

Here in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the 2004 vintage, especially for Pinot, was a challenge for many. When you see an alcohol of 14.9%, you can well expect those babies came in north of 26-27° Brix (probably more like 28) and the cellar did not cheer their arrival. Still and all, this is a solid, appealing Pinot Noir that wears its alcohol well, owing mostly to its nice range of cherry and citrus flavours. Highlights are dark cherries, orange peel, nutmeg, ginger, cranberry, pomegranate and black pepper.

Reviewed June 19, 2008 by Laura Ness.