Peter Michael Winery Peter Michael Winery 'Le Caprice' Piniot Noir 2021 750ml

The 2021 Pinot Noir Le Caprice pours a deep ruby and offers loads of spiced aromas of woodsy earth, cinnamon, and red cherry. Medium-bodied, with good concentration and ripe fruit that fills the palate with notes of red plum, baking spices, and pine, it’s a clean red with fine tannins, good richness, and purity, and its finish reveals a floral component of roses, ripe wild raspberry, and fresh herbs. Drink 2025–2037. (Audrey Frick)

I tasted the 2021 Pinot Noir Le Caprice as a finished barrel sample a week before it was racked to tank and bottled. Made from destemmed grapes and matured in 40% to 50% new French oak, it has a medium ruby-purple in color and inviting scents of red cherry, cranberry sauce, cinnamon, rose petal and potpourri, offering new aromatic nuances with each return to the glass. The medium-bodied palate is silky and seamless with concentrated, spicy red fruit and a long, latent finish. It will need another 3–5 years in bottle to continue its development and show at its best. 1,083 cases were made. This will be released in February of 2023.

I tasted the 2023 Pinot Noir Le Caprice as a sample just before it was bottled. It has slowly unfolding aromas of cranberry, red cherry, tea leaves and mint, becoming more floral as it airs in the glass. The palate is layered and concentrated with woodsy, earthy flavors evocative of a forest. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and boasts a flourish of spicy accents on the long finish. A total of 979 cases were made, and the wine will be released in April of 2025. 93-95 points. (Erin Brooks)

Delivers inviting mulled blackberry and boysenberry fruit flavors, while red tea, dried anise, iris and mulling spice accents add perfumy range throughout. Reveals a light wet earth echo that keeps the finish just grounded enough. Drink now through 2028. 1,083 cases made. (James Molesworth)