Here it is, people, the 2008 edition of one of the most highly mineralic American Pinot Noirs from a appropriately monastic vineyard site in the Santa Rita Hills.

"Black mission fig, dried strawberry and graphite aromas followed by flavors of black tea, black cherry and carbon. Maintains an incredible synergy of tender assertiveness in the mouth."

Swoon.

Greg Brewer writes: "This spectacular and challenging site consistently delivers fruit that we find particularly compelling and difficult to describe. Very steep slopes of botella clay, diatomite and limestone planted to a quintet of Pinot Noir clones with diverse spacing.

"The 2008 harvest was another picture perfect season, reminding us of how blessed we are to be working where we do. While several of our lower lying vineyards were impacted by a rare spring frost which significantly curtailed yields, most of our sites eschewed the circumstance with their higher elevations. Just as with 2007, we found tremendous flavor development and balance at somewhat lower sugars than prior years prompting us to pick sooner than in the earlier portion of the decade.

Parker: "The 2008 Pinot Noir Mount Carmel (14.8%) exhibits plenty of black cherry and strawberry notes with hints of lead pencil shavings, Chinese black tea, and earth. Dark ruby, medium to full-bodied, with a striking minerality, this is among the tightest knit and most structured and backward of the 2008 Pinots. One senses that everything is trying to burst the seams beneath its structured veneer. Give it 1-2 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 10-15."