I am always gleeful as a kid, when I am unpacking my new carton from “A Taste of Monterey.”  Granted that we pay for the wine, before it is shipped, but the contents are always a mystery.  I think that is part of the excitement and it gets me filled with anticipation.  From day one we went with their Private Reserve Club, which ever club you sign up for, you end up with a dozen bottles a year, but we decided to go with the gusto and get some of the best wines that probably don’t have a ghost of a chance appearing in Michigan, also some of the wines offered are of such small quantities that the odds were against us as well.  So, imagine my surprise when I picked up the bottle and there was no label and no capsule over the cork.

Even though I had received the wine late in the evening, I was able to call the wine club to explain my dilemma.  I told them that I needed to get a copy of the wine label at least for my blog, and I also was concerned about the lack of a capsule as an additional seal.  I did a confirmation the very next day with a copy of the label, and I was told that the wines did not have a capsule, which I thought was curious, but I have encountered that situation once or twice before.

The wine in question was Kori Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2013, and I mean how can one not get a bit excited, as I feel that this is one of the best areas in California to grow this very fussy grape, who can give rather mediocre results if not tended to properly and in the ideal terrain to be grown.  This winery is a partnership that started in 2007 between grower Kirk Williams and his step-daughter Kori Violini.  This is a dream winery, getting fruit from the KW Ranch & Highlands in the Santa Lucia Highlands.  This is one of the respected vineyards that sells grapes to wineries like Wrath and Morgan.  The vineyards owned by Kirk Williams is surrounded by other well-known estates like Gary’s Vineyard, Sleepy Hollow and Rosella’s (all vineyards that I have had the good fortune to encounter because of my wine club).   I was a little surprised that in today’s computer era, I could find almost nothing about the winery or any production notes, other than an aging potential of five to six years and a production run on one-hundred-fifty cases produced.  I think that this is a wine that may not stay in my cellar that long, because of curiosity.