Domaine Albert Boxler

My first inhale of Boxler’s Pinot Noir made me do an actual double-take. Alone in the room I caught myself saying ‘wow…’ out loud, followed by a murmered ‘I didn’t see that coming’ and then the happy embarrassment of realizing you’re talking to yourself. This wine telegraphs these amazing notes of red plum, rooibos, marshmallow leaf, and blueberry laced with sandalwood, violet, and a cosmetic flicker of lipstick. With time it opens up into aromas of ginger powder, naval orange, orange blossom, and lemon poppyseed muffins. It just keep unfurling. Onto the palate, this wine is a study in paradoxes: confusingly soft tannins, gingery berry and citrus fruit, terrific sweetness from the generous fourteen degrees of alcohol, and yet there is this crazy bright acid that rolls out with genuine texture. The tannins coat the gums so gently, and that lemon poppyseed muffin note from earlier blooms again on the beginning of the finish before resolving instead into raspberry and yellow plum. From the nose alone I can say that this is everything I am seeking when I open a Pinot Noir — to be beguiled, confused, my nose locked in the glass. This is the kind of wine you can spend the night alone with, reading a book or watching a movie—one you already know well, because heaven knows you’ll be distracted by the wine. It will be fascinating to see where this wine goes in a few years’ time in the cellar. I propose serving it with roast chicken and morels, pork terrines, or a caramelized onion tart with Gruyère and thyme.