Blue Mountain Wild Terrain Pinot Noir Block 9 2020

750 ml | Alcohol/Vol: 13%

Blue Mountain revamped its pinot noir program in 2017, choosing to add three single vineyard labels that are really more like individual blocks. Block 9, or Wild Terrain, was planted in 1998 over flat and rolling terrain with numerous expositions to the southwest that build complexity. The clones are 667 and 114, and the plantings are well over two decades old. The wine opens with a savoury, desert scrub undercurrent mixed with damp earth and spice. The ferment natural, and there are gentle barrel to barrel rackings during the ageing process. Wild Terrain is perhaps the ripest of three single block labels, with notes of sweet raspberries mixed with savoury, spicy sagebrush, cranberry, and cherry that persist through a long finish. A touch of salt and minerals adds complexity to the finish. Let this age for five years. Definitely unique. 93 points.