2007 Copain Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir and a question

WINE TALK
1

First experience with this wine. This is one tasty sumbitch and one of the better recent $20-30 American pinots I’ve encountered. Plenty of freshness and vitality; good structure and balance and just fun to keep coming back to over a 5 hour evening. I’ll throw in the '07/'09 Hirsch Bohan Dillon, '08 Rhys Alesia Sonoma Coast and the '09 Rivers Marie Sonoma Coast as some worthy competition but man this is tasty.

Is there a consensus best $20-30 California Pinot?

2

This is it. [cheers.gif]

3

Yes - this is it (Copain Tous). Welcome to the club.

4

I too like the Tous bottling, although I would rather just pay the few extra bucks and drink the Voisins, which is Deep End fruit. Last time I opened the 2007 Tous was last October and it had a hard red cherry candy note which was cool.

  • 2007 Copain Pinot Noir Tous Ensemble - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (10/10/2010)
    Opened 24 hours ago so…baking spice nose. Pomegranate, hard cherry candy, red apple and strawberry, finishing with good acidity and lift. The hard candy reference is about as dead on as I can make this note, think jolly rancher cherry. Despite the inference of a candied or sweet wine, it’s really not. Instead, good medium weight, nice red fruits and good zip. What’s missing in this bottle is the loamy/soily comment I made when I drank the bottle six months ago up at the winery. Aside from that difference, the wine remains solid and well worth the bucks. This wine can compete well within anything in the 50 buck range.

Posted from CellarTracker

I personally don’t buy much pinot in this price range anymore, mainly because my own buying patterns the last few years have left me with enough red to work through (said differently, I got a lot of CA syrah staring at me [shock.gif] ), taking the place for a while of the good daily drinkers like the Copain above.

5

I believe you have found it!

JD

6

Here is an update on a wine we had some discussion about a few months ago. This ain’t a bad bottle but it’s not near the class of the En Bas in my signature footer below. That wine is class and this Tous shows some of those flavors, just not the same class:

  • 2007 Copain Pinot Noir Tous Ensemble - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (7/8/2011)
    Opened last night, enjoyed with a first course of sashimi and closed out with a roasted beet salad. Listed alcohol 13.5%. Note written today so I could re-taste without some food and gain some final thoughts on the wine. What comes to mind is ‘thick’. Probably more accurate is that the wine lacks the finesse of the single plot Copains from this same vintage. Good amount of red fruit, same hard candy feel of the last note I wrote on the wine a year ago. Finish still has a good kick of acid hanging in there, to go with the jolly rancher cherry flavor, raspberry, plum skin and a truffle note. Just not as clean and crisp as the smaller batch wines. Drink window would be now through 2013 while waiting for the Kiser, Monument Tree and the others settle in for later enjoyment.

Posted from CellarTracker

7

you nailed it along with the rivers marie sonoma coast at $25 and the alesia sonoma coast, although the later really take a few good years.

i stocked up on the '07 tous ensemble after my first bottle.

8

No doubt, the 07’s tous were steals.
Sadly, I drank all my 07 tous pinot long ago and never got any of the en bas (how’d that happen?) so I’m gonna take your word.

9

more a fan of the en haut, but the '09 en bas is on my must buy list. had it at the winery a few days back. the '09 monument tree is pretty awesome as well.

…and the '06 en haut we had at dinner that same week was the best bottle of copain pinot i’ve had!

10

Copains version of a Bourgogne level pinot which is so rare outside of France. And it tastes good as well.

They also have their Village level and their PC/GC level wines as well.

I think his marketing plan is brilliant and I would venture a guess that other smaller/midsize Pinot producers will follow suit in the future.

11

In addition to the wines mentioned above, I would add the Navarro “Méthode à l’Ancienne” PN to the list of best CA PNs in the $20-$30 range.

12

Is there a consensus anything on this board? (though this topic is less contentious than most)

Overall I’m not focused on a ‘best’ - especially under $30 in CA - but another wine to try would be Swan Cuvee du Trois.

The Alesia SC is no longer of course, and was $35 at least from 2006 forward - albeit shipping included.

Of course, if you are willing to consider OR, there are many great values under $30 including some SVDs.

All that said I do remain a fan and customer of Copain, including this wine - especially in 2007 and 2009.

13

I like Cuvee du Trois too.

Since Copain devotees will keep checking this thread I’ll just ask, Anybody tried that P2?

14

Was at the P2 and Pizza event at the winery today. As a newbie when it comes to Pinot, my take was that the P2 is about 80% of the flavor of their low end Pinot, with about half the weight and twice the acidity. A fun summer party wine, but still a bit steep for me at $25.