GTG Downtime: Reviews You Can Trust


Featured Beverage: Domain Serene Evenstad Reserve 2006

Grey-Scale Rating: Platinum

Article originally published in GTG Oct 2009

Man's best friend

Grey Town North, Sept. 21st:

This reviewer likes his wines to be BIG. Preferably purple and thick enough to stand a spoon in, or even better dissolve the spoon. So it was with some mild reservations that I approached this wine. Why? Because its produced from premium Pinot Noir, a grape one normally associates with medium bodied wines. You know – the sort of wines that appeal to sophisticated types with sensitive taste buds. Not the sort of people who move in my circle.

But this wine is from the winery of Domaine Serene of Dayton, Oregon, a producer who has forged an impressive reputation in recent years – not least with people I drink with – so I thought I would throw caution to the wind an give it a try!

I soon realised this is no lightweight. An intense pomegranate red and packed with a formidable kick by virtue of its 14.5% ABV, the wine announces its arrival in your palate with a klaxon of flavors. I could bore you with wine industry hyperbole and superlatives, but I imagine as a GTG reader you are a sensible person and have probably never even smelled, let alone tasted, smoked honey with cherries mixed with vintage leather burr walnut veneer and a hint of spring blossom, so it will suffice for me to say that after my first gulp I felt I’d just been punched in the gob by a cheerleader wearing mink boxing gloves. And very nice it was too.

Seamus (the dog that likes to drink) was ecstatic. He was so excited he lapped up two bowlfuls before his evening walkies, even forgetting his usual bottle of Westvleteren 12 (he’s high maintenance). Seamus’ comment: “Woof! Woof!”

If I have any complaints, it is only that the wine is rather difficult to find (its not stocked at my local Midnight Store for example) and the bottle is a little too wide to fit my in-car cup holder. Otherwise, excellent!

More information: Domain Serene