Nicely packed with plum, currant and blackberry purée flavors laced with black licorice and framed by a perfectly integrated alder note. Flash of sweet bay in the background, too.

There may be more complex wines in this review, and there are certainly more intense wines as well, but not many of the bottlings tasted outpoint this tasty, open and inviting wine for sheer drinkability over the next three to five years. Its aromas are nicely fruited and tilt toward black currant and olives with a rich background of caramelly oak, and those attractions are repeated in the thoroughly enjoyable flavors. It will certainly age well for a half-decade and more, but it will show well now with steaks and chops.

Among the fuller and more forthrightly rich of the current lineup of Pinots from Davies, the 2018 Nobles Vineyard bottling is a well-ripened, fairly substantial working with plenty of fruity flesh on its ample structural bones. Despite being easy to taste at the moment, it deserves a rest of at least two or three years before being poured as a partner to the likes of a well-seasoned rack of lamb, and it has the right pieces in place to age effortlessly for a good half-dozen or more.