Castle Rock Pinot Noir "Monterey County" 2021 (2 bottles; comparison)

Bottle #1        Light strawberry hue with slight bricking at the rim which is unusual for such a young wine. Aromas of cherry and raspberry with a ruby grapefruit note.

Palate--Tart first impression with unpleasant mouth feel and bitter mid-palate...Finishes with fleeting red grapefruit note.

Bottle #2   Light Cherry hue with aromas of relaxed cherry...

Palate--Tart first impression with light flavors of cherry, marginal texture with fleeting finish. 

Well then--Both bottles are less than Castle Rock's standard of solid production value wines. The second bottle I opened is slightly better than the first but it is possible that the difference may be due to the second bottle being 24 hours fresher. 

What to conclude?  The price of these bottles was $15 marked down to $8.  This may be a winery knowing their particular production was substandard and just decided to try and unload as many as they could.  A normal human being would never notice that these are not good wines. They would just conclude that they "just don't like Pinot Noir."  This is very unfortunate as Pinot Noir--the signature grape of the famed Burgundy region of France--are among the most expensive wines in the world! 

Castle Rock makes some really nice Pinot's at a very approachable price point. These just do not measure up.  Don't avoid the brand, avoid this vintage and region (Monterey) in this year.