Over sweet Pinot Noirs (served blind)

[Paul_H_Galli]

There were some great CA Pinots produced in 2005.
For instance, the entire Arcadian lineup!

TTT

[David_Bu3ker]

It is true that 2001 to 2006 was the peak period pushing the limits on ripeness in California Pinot Noir.

I know nothing about this producer. It’s interesting to see how huge of a difference harvest time makes, though.

What was the ABV on the labels?

I did not take photos, so I do not know. None of the 4 Beauregard wines showed alcoholic though. No heat on the nose or the palate finish.

[David_Bu3ker]

Just checked the winery site, and the 2014 was 13.7% alcohol.

50% new French oak.

[GregP]

Just checked the winery site, and the 2014 was 13.7% alcohol.

50% new French oak.

Its not just how much new oak, but what oak. I suspect, by the description of mid palate sweetness, that Remond oak was used. As part of a larger lot it can play a nice note when used along with other oak, but in a small lot may be a bit too much from my experience.

[George_Chadwick]

I don’t like sweet pinots and I think I would not have liked these. But I had a terrific Beauregard chardonnay last year, best wine for me among tough competition at Capitol Art and Wine

[lleichtman]

2014 Beauregard Vineyards Pinot Noir Coast Grade Vineyard[/url] - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Ben Lomond Mountain (2/28/2019)

I always thought of Ben Lomond in the Santa Cruz Mountains…perhaps the San Andreas Fault moved it bayside?

It’s an AVA in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I assume the SF Bay designation is some CellarTracker regional category.

I’m not sure how they managed to produce a sweet pinot from that cool AVA.

[William_Kelley]

I don’t like sweet pinots and I think I would not have liked these. But I had a terrific Beauregard chardonnay last year, best wine for me among tough competition at Capitol Art and Wine

Also a fan of the recent vintages I have tasted, especially the Chardonnays which have been first rate in the last couple of vintages. Seems like there has been a lot of evolution over the last decade.

[Wes_Barton]

Just checked the winery site, and the 2014 was 13.7% alcohol.

50% new French oak.

Its not just how much new oak, but what oak. I suspect, by the description of mid palate sweetness, that Remond oak was used. As part of a larger lot it can play a nice note when used along with other oak, but in a small lot may be a bit too much from my experience.

They had been using American oak on their Pinots, so the “neutral” 50% would be that. Plus, with that fruit, 50% new is too much. With something tame you could probably get away with 25%. Hopefully their oak program has normalized after the switch-over.

Ben Lomond is a small AVA within the SCM AVA. The benchmark Pinot is McHenry (who don’t claim that sub-AVA). It’s essentially the Bonny Doon area. McHenry Pinot (now in their 3rd generation) is what inspired Randall Graham to make wine, planting next door to them, and locating his tasting room down the road - which is now the Beauregard tasting room. Unique terroir there, when it’s allowed to show. I’ve had excellent Beauregard Pinot (and Chard!) that showed that terroir well, and also horrific ones.

And jeez, back in '05 the vast majority of CA PN was just pathetic. Yes, I can name plenty of exceptions, but so many of the board and critic darlings were just shit. Utter shit. Unfocused over-ripe murk. The typical amateurish SCM stuff just blew most of them away.

[GregP]

Just checked the winery site, and the 2014 was 13.7% alcohol.

50% new French oak.

Its not just how much new oak, but what oak. I suspect, by the description of mid palate sweetness, that Remond oak was used. As part of a larger lot it can play a nice note when used along with other oak, but in a small lot may be a bit too much from my experience.

They had been using American oak on their Pinots, so the “neutral” 50% would be that. Plus, with that fruit, 50% new is too much. With something tame you could probably get away with 25%. Hopefully their oak program has normalized after the switch-over.

Ben Lomond is a small AVA within the SCM AVA. The benchmark Pinot is McHenry (who don’t claim that sub-AVA). It’s essentially the Bonny Doon area. McHenry Pinot (now in their 3rd generation) is what inspired Randall Graham to make wine, planting next door to them, and locating his tasting room down the road - which is now the Beauregard tasting room. Unique terroir there, when it’s allowed to show. I’ve had excellent Beauregard Pinot (and Chard!) that showed that terroir well, and also horrific ones.

And jeez, back in '05 the vast majority of CA PN was just pathetic. Yes, I can name plenty of exceptions, but so many of the board and critic darlings were just shit. Utter shit. Unfocused over-ripe murk. The typical amateurish SCM stuff just blew most of them away.

Thanks for the info, that entire AVA is still a mystery to me in some ways outside of older Bonny Doon era. I admit that I have yet to taste Cal Pinot with American oak, but now it makes sense when reading the TNs again.

[David_Bu3ker]

Yeah, with no real info for the 2005 that does make a lot of sense.

Mentioning again that I did really like the two Syrahs we had.

[Kevin_Harvey]

The ripeness of these wines is not an attribute of terroir but rather a winemaking decision. Like most California Pinot micro-climates, the marine influence of this SC Mtns site allows winemakers to hang fruit into October. Historically, many SC Mtns have chosen to pick fruit before extreme ripeness but it is usually possible to allow the fruit to get as ripe (or not) as a winemaker would like.

[Cris_Whetstone]

2005 was a chronically overrated vintage for Pinots in Cali. They just haven’t held up well by and large unless you really want sweet tart wines.

Some producers surely did well due to the style they make but most of the stuff we really liked back then should have been drank back then.

[larry_schaffer]

The ripeness of these wines is not an attribute of terroir but rather a winemaking decision. Like most California Pinot micro-climates, the marine influence of this SC Mtns site allows winemakers to hang fruit into October. Historically, many SC Mtns have chosen to pick fruit before extreme ripeness but it is usually possible to allow the fruit to get as ripe (or not) as a winemaker would like.

Kevin,

Your statement Rings through for pretty much all of California in 2005. It was a very gentle Harvest and folks could hang things as long as they wanted. And many hung those grapes until they were nearly raisins.

[Markus_S]

… McHenry Pinot (now in their 3rd generation) is what inspired Randall Graham to make wine, planting next door to them, and locating his tasting room down the road - which is now the Beauregard tasting room…

So the old Graham tasting room is now Beauregard’s? That tasting room was in a beautiful spot.

[Wes_Barton]

2005 was a chronically overrated vintage for Pinots in Cali. They just haven’t held up well by and large unless you really want sweet tart wines.

Some producers surely did well due to the style they make but most of the stuff we really liked back then should have been drank back then.

But, it’s important to note '05 was a great vintage. I tasted SCM PNs extensively back then and it really stood out. It’s a provincial region that doesn’t follow trends. Wines from these straight forward, no frills, low budget producers generally beat the pants off the big budget trendy darlings. They were trying too hard and made really bad decisions.

The '05 hype lead me to go to some tastings on release. The one that really stood out was about 30 wines, with many of the winemakers in attendance. These were all big name critic and board darlings that still get much love. My ratings ranged from 78 to 90. That’s one 90, then one 88, so the median was around 83-84 points for wines asking $45-90 back then. In 2015 my tasting group did a 19 part retrospective tasting series, including the same producers and many more with high ratings. Same sort of disappointment.

[David_Bu3ker]

Different strokes and all, 2005 was the vintage that pushed me away from California Pinot Noir for the better part of 5 years, with very few exceptions.

I found the wines too ripe, too rich, and walked away.