Hangtime is just average pinot noir

Hangtime Pinot Noir (2005)
Origin: France (Burgundy)
Price: $10

I was drawn to this stately-looking bottle from Burgundy. Looks like it would be pretty decent, I thought. Or maybe the brand "Hangtime" contributed to my bottle lust. It turns out that hangtime refers to how long the grapes spend on the grapevines. Allowing the grapes to remain attached to the vine develops a more complex fruit for the wine. Take a closer look and you'll notice the logo has a hand holding a bunch of grapes onto the vine. Cute. But cute doesn't necessarily make a good wine, does it now?

On the whole, this isn't a bad pinot, but it's definitely missing something -- it somehow isn't as rich as it should be. It's lighter-than-normal cherry-red hue tipped me off to potential disappointment. The raisin notes and obvious alcohol on the nose didn't knock my socks off either. Truthfully there are probably a lot better choices for pinot even in this low price range. Since this was on Chairman's Selection, I had high hopes, but I'd choose Red Bicyclette, Blackstone or Mark West over Hangtime any day. A little bit of aging may do this wine some good, but I'm not sure that I'll be buying another bottle to conduct that experiment.