California vs. Oregon Pinot tasting and a few Bourgogne Rouge

Our country club wine club tasted California vs. Oregon Pinots Tuesday night all I believe from Jackson. For the most part, the wines were as you would expect - California richer, Oregon more nuanced. More specifically:

Fight one:

Jackson Estate Pinot Noir 2015 and Willakenzie Pierre Leon Pinot Noir 2013. I was not wild about either of these wines, although the Jackson estate gets points for being well priced. The Willakenzie certainly had more to it than the Jackson, but both had a certain harshness to them. These seemed to be wines (at least to me) to drink now and the harshness would preclude that for me.

Flight two:

Siduri 2014, one from Russian River Valley and the other from the Willamette Valley. The RRV was more what the first two should have been. Nice richness, nice flavor, not to complex, smooth and easy to drink. Easy to drink with dinner tonight. If you like the style of wine, this is a perfect drink now wine. The Willamette Valley was probably the better wine (had more to it) but the RRV for me was perfect for what it was.

Flight three:

2014 la Crema Los Carneros and 2013 la Crema Ribbon Ridge - The Los Carneros IMHO was the worst wine of the night (excuse me as I take the splinters out of my mouth). Way too much oak and I just could not get beyond that. The Ribbon Ridge was somewhat better, but in general I liked flight two more.

Flight four:

2014 Cambria ‘Clone 4’ from Sant Maria Valley and the 2012 Angela ‘Abbot Claim’. Also not a big fan of the Cambria. But the Angela was by a good margin my favorite wine of the evening. Nice wine, some kind of finish (most of the wines did not have much finish) and good flavors. Interesting wine.

However, I will say (ready your slings) that IMHO none of these wines came anywhere close to two Bourgogne Rouges I had over the weekend. One was a 2014 Hudelot-Noellat Bourgogne Rouge that is full of fruit, very bright and an absolute joy to drink (cost $25). The other was a 2013 Henri Jouan Coteaux Bourguignons ($20). This wine did not have the beauty and roundness of the Hudelot-Noellat but had a wonderful density to it. Really a lot of concentration for a Bourgogne. Fabulous wine.

News flash - American semi-industrial plonk isn’t as good as small producer Bourgogne.

Well, and two very good small producers at that! But in all fairness, that’s why he didn’t bill it as California versus Oregon versus Burgundy. The Burgundy was just sort of in addition as I saw it. Still those selections for California or Oregon were pretty rough.

Yes, I’d be hard pressed to recommend any of those CA/OR producers to anyone…I certainly don’t think of them as representative of their regional character.

Is Trimpi dead? Why hasn’t he castigated you for trying Oregon Pinot so soon? You should try an older bottle comparison to see how terrible old California Pinot tastes (except Marcassin perhaps, hopefully this comment doesn’t affect my Marcassin Chardonnay allocation).

Trying them so soon??? I did not buy the wines and open them without cellaring them. I went to a tasting where a wholesaler who represents Jackson Family Wines presented the wines for us to taste with the hope of selling wine. She, not I, picked the wines to taste and the age of the wines. I am just reporting on what I tasted. It is very rare that I buy either California Pinot or Oregon Pinot. This tasting would not change that.

I’ve liked the 3 Siduris I drank . And nice value .

That pretty much sums it up.

Not dead, just resting.

Sounds like Howard found the OR Pinots more nuanced. No complaints there. I wouldn’t have picked that Willakenzie or a Siduri, but no harm. Entry level wines for early drinking.

The 2014 H-N Bourgogne and 2013 Jouan Coteaux sound like very nice entry level Burgs.

Howard, have you tried any of Marcus’s Goodfellow entry Pinots? Patricia Green Estate? OR Pinots will never replace your love for Burgundy, but a few can scratch the Pinot Noir itch.

RT

I do not have the time, energy or wealth to pursue real Bourgogne and just let Marcus apply his skills to producing some acceptable local renditions. [cheers.gif]

Nice… Channeling Bob Wood!

Doing my best [worship.gif]

After attending a country club tasting of Barton & Guestier and Red Bicyclette, I went home and opened some Cabot, Carlisle and Scherrer, and you know, the California wines were really a lot better. Just FYI. :wink:

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Thanks for the notes, Howard. Do you plan on stocking up on the 2015 Hudelot-Noellat Bourgogne Rouge?

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I have not had those Oregon Pinots. I don’t drink that much Oregon Pinot, but I have had some like Eyrie, Erath, Adelsheim, Drouhin, Resonance and a number of others over the years.

I have already bought some (along with other 2015s from him) but they are still on prearrival. I tasted at Hudelot-Noellat last summer and his 2015s are very impressive. We did not taste the Bourgogne - started with the VR villages and worked our way up. If you like HN wines, try the 2014 Charles Van Canneyt Bourgogne Blanc - fabulous $20 chardonnay.

At a recent event I had a choice of Cupcake and Meiomi. I’m jealous.

You guys need to upgrade your country club memberships. Maybe I can get you into mine. They need more members.