Panther Creek Pinot Noir 2006

Just brought this home tonight. The new 2006 vintage hit the shelves just last week. I was interested for two reasons:
1) the 2005 was bottled kinda green (i.e. bottled/released a bit too young) and wanted to see if it was the same story
2) it was on a really good sale

First off you can tell it's an '06. The alcohol is up from 13.5 to 14.5 and it's drinking a little hot. 2006 is showing itself as a pretty ripe year. Look to see 2006 Oregon pinots to be more on the fruity/juicy side than perhaps elegant and restrained.

The nose is showing some good raspberry fruit with a little of that alcohol that I mentioned. Light to medium bodied with a decently juicy midpalate. A tiny hint of spice and a medium length finish round it out. I'll give it an 88 points. I've had better, I've had worse.

Also, I just had some of this with milk chocolate and fresh strawberries. Wow, delicious. Makes the wine all that much more enjoyable. One of those pairings that makes the wine and the food both better. Yummy