Mark West Pinot....

I love cheap Pinot... not cheap tasting... cheap price tag. So many Pinot's are simply overpriced. Although Pinot can sometimes become my favorite wine... i.e. the 2003 Fort Ross Symposium - mentioned in an earlier blog or 2.... but many are simply disappointing... not because they are bad wines... no! Many are really good.... but not worth even $50.

For example.... on New Years Eve, we opened a bottle of 2005 Archery Summit Red Hill - $80. It was good... very nice wine. Worth $80? Hell no. If I had paid about $25, I'd have been happy - good bang for the buck at that price level. By contrast, about 10 days ago, we opened a bottle of 2005 Torii Mor.... about $44.... much more depth and balance than the Red Hill... at about half the price.

This is where the cheap Pinot comes in.... I love Pinot from Carmel Road, Mark West, some of the Castle Rock, etc. Do they blow my mind? No. But I love the way they taste - simple, slightly elegant, and food friendly with many dishes... most have just enough acidity to provide balance at dinnertime - and enough fruit on the nose to round things out.

Yeah, I know some of these have just a bit of Syrah and I mention this in one of my earlier blogs - that Syrah should be listed on the label much the same way that Shiraz/Viognier is labeled. That said, I just assume that the cheap pinot may have a bit of syrah, give up my need for self-congratulating wine snobbery, and just pour the darn thing into a glass and enjoy it.

Cheers!

Oregon Pinot... overrated?

The first time I visited Willamette Valley, I was stunned and blown away. I visited Ponzi, Archery Summit, Domaine Serene, Domaine Drouhin, White Rose.... I think there were a few others as well.

I couldn't believe the diversity in Pinot that I tasted that day... and, as usual when tasting a lot of wine in one day, the wines just keep getting better and better. It also helped that it was a beautiful May day and everything was so green... much greener than in most of Southern California, where I live.

I singed up for all kinds of wine clubs... I couldn't wait to tell everyone I knew that was into wine how this new discovery had opened my eyes. Within the next 4-6 weeks, a UPS truck was at our house at least 2 times a week delivering more of this wonderful wine. At that point, I looked at my AMEX bill and decided it was time to quit the wine clubs.

But now I had a lot of Pinot! Pinot! Pinot!

It's all gone now... along with a bunch of other Pinot that I've had over the last 2 years while comparing wineries, vintages, and regions... you can add Sea Smoke, Williams Selyem, Sanford, Castle Rock, Carmel Road, Domaine Alfred, Flowers.... a whole bunch of Pinot People to the list...

And, my favorite so far?

The 2003 Fort Ross Sonoma Coast Symposium... about $30. I like it better than all of the above. Too bad I only bought one bottle.

Cheers!