Pinot from the End of the World? Bodegas del Fin del Mundo Pinot Noir Reserva 2006, Patagonia

Doesn’t that sound awfully great? Bodegas del Fin del Mundo! Well for sure it is pretty deep in the south of South America, even in Patagonia, but more on the most northern fringe of the state Patagonia. Still more than just several hundred miles away from Tierra del Fuego. Well, maybe not really the end of the world, but pretty far away anyway.
The Pinot grapes for this wine were cultivated in the Neuquén region and aged for approximately 9 moths in French and American oak. Due to my miserable Spanish skills I couldn’t find out anything about the soils or the actual climate. So straight on to my wine impression:

Its colour seemed to be regularly ruby red, maybe a little darker ruby, with quite a lot of brown and colourless reflexes on the rim. At first the nose was a bit stinky and showed plenty of green beans scents, some stressful ethereal features and maybe some nougat-marzipan. Not so much fruit was going on in the first hours. Okay, maybe some dark cherries, but not really very expressive ones. After four to five hours the fruit impression got a little bit better and subtle. I might have picked up some fragrances of ripe and stinging red strawberries and dark cherries. Besides that maybe some moist autumn forest features as well. On the second day even a bit more. The taste revealed the obvious problem. Retirement Home condition might describe it appropriately. Plenty of (over-)aging indications. I got weak and light flavours of strawberries, some milk chocolate, maybe even some creaminess, some moist forest soil and other autumn features, hints of smoke and some assorted vegetal aromas. All in all rather expressionless and unwilling to perform a state of the art, end of the world, Pinot experience. This Pinot is still drinkable. For sure! But not full of life either. I really don’t want to sugar code it in any way. Some very positive things about this wine I need to mention are: No doubt it tasted and smelled like Pinot Noir, not like some Pinot chimera. It appeared to have a very suitable balance, a decent body structure an was equipped with adequate acid. Most important, it wasn’t a “Strong-Body-Sweetness-Alcohol-Oak-Pinot-Monster” like you may find it in Argentina from time to time. Pity, I came one or two year to late. My bad!