It's not on account of his professed dislike for the 2010 vintage that Gilles de Domingo showed me Cooper Mountain's 2011 Pinot Noir Life when it had been in bottle for only five days. Rather it seems that the demand for this no-sulfur bottling far outstrips supply in any vintage; and avian hoards had decimated the estate's 2010 Pinot crop; so this 2011 was headed straight onto the market no doubt to be gobbled right up. "This (bottling) began as an experiment in 2002" explains de Domingo "but then demand took off." ... Vivid plum and blackberry including their invigorating tartness of skin and crunch of seeds are mingled with saliva-liberating salinity and soy-like savor in a texturally-polished amalgam of sappy mid-palate intensity vibrancy and grip. de Domingo says he practices extreme leaf pull to concentrate the phenols in this wine and so as to achieve on this occasion 13.2% finished alcohol with an end-October picking date.... All I know is that as a young wine this came as a revelation in vividness of fresh berry essence. De Domingo says he'll prove to me next year that this cuvee can age. - David Schildknecht