The 2012 Stewart Pinot Noir includes 25 percent whole-cluster fruit and spends 18 months in barrel (nine months sur lie). It has a feisty bouquet with vibrant kirsch and redcurrant scents interlaced with licorice and star anis. The palate is medium-bodied with fine saturated tannin: plenty of lush black and red fruit with a dense, velvet-smooth finish that caresses the mouth. Very seductive if just a little–obvious.