The 2010 Pinot Noir Estate is an exceptionally elegant wine. Dried cherries, plums, exotic spices, mint and crushed flowers waft from the glass, with plenty of lift from the use of 50% whole clusters. There is a lot of personality here, but readers will need to be very patient while the stems integrate. The 2010 is striking from start to finish. I can’t wait to see how this stunning Pinot ages. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2030. Mount Eden is one of the United States’ great heritage estates. The Chardonnays and Pinots have a track record for aging spectacularly well. As outstanding as the Chardonnays and Pinots can be, I was also pretty surprised by the quality of the Cabernet Sauvignons. Winemaker and proprietor Jeffrey Patterson favors indigenous fermentations for all his wines, which are also bottled with no fining or filtration. The top Chardonnay bottling, the Estate, spends a year in barrel and six months in steel, as do so many of the top whites in Burgundy these days. The Pinots are made with anywhere from 20-50% stem inclusion, which can make the wines hard to understand when young. If I am looking for an aged bottle of California Chardonnay or Pinot, Mount Eden is always at or near the top of my list. In this section, I have listed all of the wines from Domaine Eden, Mount Eden’s second label first, followed by the wines of Mount Eden. Tel (888) 865-9463; info@mounteden.com