“From wine what sudden friendship springs!”, John Gay, Fables II, 1738, The Squire and His Cur.
We know that Pinot Noir grapes like cooler growing areas like Burgundy, France, and its latitudinal equivalent, Oregon. California, though, offers a unique challenge to Pinot Noir winemakers – the grape needs the right combination of cool temperature, lean soils (some sophisticates call it “Terroir”) and moisture to properly plumb its possible potential. One Napa Valley winemaker friend of mine expressed his bottomless frustration to growing and handling this thin-skinned grape in his warmer area. “Kind of finicky, like a woman,” he said.
I recently scooted over to Otto’s wine shop and bought six bottles of California Pinot Noir. My budget limit was $20 apiece, and these wines tend to be available at a number of other sites in town, like Consumer Outlet Beverage Center in Hales Corners. Here are my tasting notes, again using my “A”-“F” scale:
– 2007 Schug Sonoma Coast: Light garnet color with light body and a clean nose hinting of berries. Light middle and light, almost elegant finish. B-
– 2007 Wild Horse Central Coast: Its stablemates include reasonably priced Chardonnay, marvelous Merlot, Viognier, a beefy Syrah, a zippy Zinfandel and a solid Cabernet Sauvignon. This entry had a red ruby color with medium body and a subtle wild berry nose. Fruity, dancingly exciting middle with a long, exotic finish. Racy! A+
– 2008 Estancia Monterey County – Pinnacles Ranches: With a medium-garnet color, this entry had medium body along with a deeply fruity nose laced with complexity, spice and a tad of pepper. Medium finish. B
– 2008 Chalone Vineyard – Monterey County: Chalone has long enjoyed an almost cultish following, and I greatly enjoyed visiting the winery in the early 1980s. This wine had a medium-dark red velvet color with medium to heavy body. Its spicy, deep nose had nice complexity. Its fruit was medium-deep with nice intensity, and the wine finished with a tad of tannin and some astringency. B
– 2008 Mark West – sourced from California coastal grapes. Dark ruby color with medium body. Deep, berry nose with some brambly notes. Spicy middle with some hints of blueberry. Long finish with some astringency. B+
– Francis Coppola Diamond Collection – Silver Label – Monterey: This filmmaker’s gang made a pleasant wine with a light berry color and medium body with a dancingly spicy, fruity nose. Easy to enjoy with a lightly elegant finish. A rocking chair wine! A
Fun tasting with not a clinker in the batch.
The winner: Wild Horse by a length…
Cheers!
