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!
No comments:
Post a Comment