I hope when the poll comes out we are able to pick multiple choices- no way in hell to chose just one.
Initial poll will definitely have multiple choices.
I’m a fan of KKK… Kanzler, Keefer, and Koplen!!!
I don’t care who makes them!!!
Berto,
Correct… Botella, Southing and Ten (and One Barrel) are not vineyards, they are blends from the Sea Smoke Vineyard. Please note that Sea Smoke is two words, not one. The designations are barrel blends with each label having its own stylistic differences. As the vines age, the team has found that certain blocks of the vineyard often produce wines that are more suited to a certain designation, but final determinations of which blocks go into which designation are not done until blending.
The list has been updated as of 12/5, 8 p.m. PST.
106 California Pinot vineyards nominated to this point.
[Todd - can you increase the choices to about 120?]
This type of thread turns people off to sites like this. The urge to post this type of drivel should be supressed. Next, let’s pick our favorite Italian wine, then our favorite Bordeaux, then maybe our favorite Syrah/Shiraz from anywhere in the world. Hey, my favorite sparkling water comes from a spring in Myanmar. Where does yours come from? Maybe we should have a poll, even a prepoll. I think a pre-prepoll would be good to select the hemispheres we’ll include.
Welcome to the Board MikeL. A pre-prepoll!!! Ha Ha! What a concept!!! Ooops … this is a pre-prepoll.
Isn’t it a bitch when people post threads without clearing content with you first? Here are a couple of tips to help you better cope with such outrages in the future:
a) Don’t stop taking those meds - particularly before posting!
b) There is this trick you can use when you find a post that really upsets you … don’t read it!!!
We now return to our regularly scheduled Pinot Poll! ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Ridgetop Vineyard (Sonoma Coast) - A.P. Vin
I did not find and would add:
Hillside Vineyard, RRV (Porter Creek)
Oehlman, RRV (WesMar)
Tina Marie, Green Valley (Anthill).
Also, Keefer is in the Green Valley AVA.
E
Wow.
Im sure most will not agree with me but I don’t think the vineyard itself (the location) is a huge influence on the quality of Pinot Noir in California. Of course all else being equal, there will be a big difference, but I think for California Pinot: producer wine making methodology and grower methodology are a significatly more important variables in how the wines will taste.
Don’t get me wrong, terroir makes a difference, For example, Trenton Estate is conistently Swan’s best wine and tasting at Siduri is very illuminating in seeing vineyard differences, but the winemaking and winegrowing variables I think make terrior less important when looking at wines from producer to producer if the end goal is finding something that you want to drink. Id much rather have a Kanzler from Swan than a Trenton from Kosta Brown.
So because of this I think its hard to narrow in on “great” vineyards at this stage on the game. I think as the vines get older accross the board, this will be an easier disscusion to have.
((((big hug))))
No, it’s the original Paul Masson vineyard in Saratoga, near to Mount Eden.
I would add Clos Saron’s Home Vineyard and Texas Hill Vineyard in the Sierra Foothills. I think all the others on my personal top 10 are already listed…
Who produces from there now?
But so many vineyards on the list are vineyards that are only bottled by a single producer (all the Calera, all the Rhys, Mt Eden, etc., etc., etc.). If you choose one of those as your “favorite Pinot vineyard in CA”, aren’t you really just choosing your “favorite Pinot in CA”? Wouldn’t choosing a favorite vineyard entail being able to taste multiple expressions of that vineyard from different producers? So that one had at least some basis for identifying vineyard characteristics that might be consistent across the stylistic differences of producers.
P.S. Don’t feed the troll.
Jamie, about 110 vineyards have been nominated at this point - some are single producer vineyards and many more supply to multiple producers. Vineyards going exclusively to great producers like Dehlinger and Rhys probably have an advantage - particularly if those producers can consistently and effectively showcase the vineyards terroir year after year.
Fortunately, this poll is not scientific, it’s just for fun. Think of it as "producers aside, which vineyards seem to consistently provide you with the most pleasure?
The Mountain Winery. They replanted a few years back. Jeffrey Patterson of Mount Eden makes the wine for them.
Oh, I didn’t mean to rain on the parade, Mike. Just to maybe make people think for a second about what exactly they mean when they say “favorite”. Because I think it will make the poll results more interesting and less of a scattershot of favorite producers.
Thanks Dave - I’ll make a point to try those!