2008 Cameron Winery Pinot Noir Abbey Ridge

The 2008 Pinot Noir Abbey Ridge comes from the estate’s oldest vines. Medium cherry red, it displays a fragrant bouquet of Asian spices, incense, floral notes, cherry, and raspberry. Incipiently complex on the palate, it will benefit from 2-3 years of additional cellaring to fully unwind and will provide enjoyment through 2020, perhaps longer. John Paul, UC Berkeley Ph.D. in Marine Biology, has the look of a guy who wandered up to Dundee Hills from Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960s. We were discussing his compost heap located near the winery where he admitted that after considerable experimentation, he was willing to concede that biodynamic “preparations” work. However, with his science background, he is unwilling to accept it on faith so now his goal is to understand “why” they work. In the same quixotic spirit, he has been growing Nebbiolo for nearly 20 years but has only released three vintages. Be that as it may, the name of the game here is Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. www.cameronwines.com