2013 Walter Hansel Pinot Noir Cuvée Alyce
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Tasting notes
The 2013 Pinot Noir Cuvée Alyce, which is made from a field blend of Dijon clones 115 and 777, is also backward and restrained. I can totally understand Stephen Hansel’s statement that the 2013 Pinots are very European with their reserved character. This is a big wine, dense, ruby in color, with terrific fruit intensity, but the tannins still dominate, and the wine has good acidity and a backward personality. It’s not austere by any means and should blossom fully with another 1-2 years of bottle age. It could turn out to be a low- to mid-90 pointer. It’s certainly capable of lasting at least a decade.
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Average Score
Robert Parker
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
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The 2013 Pinot Noir Cuvée Alyce is quite beautiful today, with gorgeous complexity, plenty of depth and fabulous overall balance. Game, smoke, tobacco and licorice add nuance to a core of expressive red-toned fruits. Today, I see a little less than in the some of the other wines, the North Slope in particular, but that is really splitting hairs at this level.