I am asking the question mainly as I am going to a retailer Pinot Noir tasting later today. I expect that the tasting will be about 60-75 Pinots, almost all from California, and probably few above the $20 price point. I don’t want to taste all the wines there, so I was thinking of just not trying anything that has a generic California appellation. Will I be missing anything?
I see you didn’t get any responses. How was the wine tasting and what Pinot Noirs did you discover to be good value?
Yeah, I thought that that was pretty hilarious. So I guess that there are no decent generic PNs!!!
Actually I was very impressed at the tasting. Truth be told, I don’t think that there were ANY generic CA Pinots at the tasting, most were Sta Maria Hills, Santa Barbara, RRV, Carneros, etc. The tasting was a bit more high end than I had feared. My favorites, not in any order, were:
2007 Cakebread (Carneros)
2008 Erath (Dundee Hills)
2009 Patricia Green Reserve
2006 Wild Earth (Central Otago)
2009 Terra Andina (Chile) GREAT VALUE!!!
2006 David Bruce RRV
2007 Whitehaven (Marlborough)
2008 Mohua (Central Otago)
2009 Educated Guess (Carneros)
2007 Brutocao (Anderson Valley)
2008 Cardwell Hill (Willamette)
I tend to like a complex, medium-throttle PN. There were plenty of super ripe, almost sweet wines that I didn’t care for. Belle Glos was one example (didn’t write down the year or vineyard).
Pali.