Filgueira, Uruguay (Uruguay) Pinot Noir 2011

 The fruit from which this wine was made was so outstanding that the winemaker elected not to touch it at all with oak, which seems to me an entirely justified (if rather unorthodox) decision.  Despite its resulting purity, the wine actually seems more masculine than feminine in character–if you’ll permit the analogy–as the fruit recalls black cherries and berries rather than red fruits and is very dense and deeply flavored.  The 2011 vintage was so remarkable by all accounts that I don’t believe it is possible to extrapolate much from this wine about Pinot Noir’s potential in Uruguay, but at a minimum one can say that this is an indisputably marvelous wine.