TN: my first US Pinot Noir ever

WINE TALK
1

It is notoriously hard to buy US wines here in Europe and I was suprised to find
a US Pinot Noir yesterday in my local wine store near Geneva. I have a nice souvenir
from a Chardonnay from Jim Clendenen that I drank years ago, thats why I picked
this bottle up. Maybe with the dollar being on the favourable side right now I need to
find a shop that has a bigger selection.

2005 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley
Good dark colour, expressive nose and rather sweeter than I had expected from a Pinot, round and soft.
Certainly not on the lean side. Nice strawberry taste with a medium finish. Not much noteciable acidity,
maybe covered by the slight sweetness ? 89 points.

2

Welcome to US Pinot! I wish there were an easy way to trade because I’d love to get my hands some of that Swiss Syrah and Pinot. BTW, my family traces back its roots 400 or so years to Glarus Switzerland.

RT

3

Richard,

I wish we could, sometimes Domaine prices here are much lower and some stuff
is just not exported at all. My favourites come from the Valais (Wallis) region,
good stuff. But, going from Geneva to the Wallis is the same drive time as going
to Beaune, so…

As far as US Pinots go, what would you recommend ?

Cheers
Christian

4

Stick to it. there are far better US Pinots than that and finally, pinot noir prices in the US are coming back to earth a bit. Still too many fruit bombs for me, but plenty that are good and balanced with some structure as well.

5

Good find. It is interesting to a European palate Au Bon Climat is considered sweeter. Many ‘California palates’ find these wines too thin. I’d say they’re only really light in comparison to the massive ‘Power Pinot’ from neighboring regions. They’re well-balanced California-style wines with plenty of fruit.

I think Santa Maria is a very good region for Pinot Noir, especially Bien Nacido Vineyard (Au Bon Climate sources much if not all of their fruit from this vineyard). Cambria Winery is a larger producer in Santa Maria, and perhaps you might have luck finding their wines. What I generally notice is that Santa Maria Pinots tend to have pronounced floral, spice and mushroom aromas when made by good producers that don’t harvest overripe fruit.

Santa Rita Hills to the south is actually cooler. Perhaps it is the choice of clones or stylistic decisions, but these wines are usually very strong, like a Grenache in many cases. This is not bad, they just aren’t feminine or elegant. There is usually more soil, sage and dark fruit aroma. I also think stem inclusion is common, so the wines are often both very big and ‘stemmy’ in a good way. I would think these are more challenging to a European palate since they are not made to complement food, but instead to overwhelm the senses.

Los Alamos is not an official appellation, though good fruit from this region between Santa Maria and Santa Rita Hills will be bottled as ‘Santa Barbara County’ at times. Santa Barbara County is the label often used for the lesser wines, though. These may however be the best to drink in their youth for their fresh fruit character.

6

I also wish I could taste some CA stuff, but it’s impossible to find in Italy! I’m lucky if I run across French wines.

7

See if you can find 2007 Oregon pinots. They are leaner and more european, but still good as long as you don’t want plushness.

8

But the scenery in the direction of the Valais! I’ve had that ABC Pinot before and had similar impressions. To me, Cali Pinots (and trust me there are more opinions about Cali Pinots than posters on this board) are mostly about the purity and intensity of fruit. Plenty of cola, spice, and floral elements and much less earth, sous-bois, mushrooms, herbs, etc. Cali-heads seem to be, in general, much more tolerant of heat (alcohol), ripeness, low acid, and oak than I am. These would probably be very tough to get in Europe but Cali producers I prefer include:

Copain (2006 and younger)
Joseph Swan
Holdrege
Littorai
Loring - vintages with more control and higher acid
Peay
Rhys
Rochioli
Varner
Walter Hanzell
Whetstone

You can get a really big cross-sectional view by trying several of the Loring and Siduri Pinots. Cult Pinots like Aubert, Kistler, Kosta-Browne, and Marcassin don’t really float my boat but you might like them.

In general I’m happier with Oregon Pinots, but that’s a whole different area and possibly unavailable there.

RT

9

Christian and Michele,

I just came across a website that may be of interest to you: http://www.californiawines.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don’t read German, but from what I can tell, this is a Munich based wine shop that has a respectable selection of U.S. Pinot Noir. I am not familiar with the wine shipping laws between countries in Europe. However, if you are able to purchase from this shop, following is a list of several of the Oregon Pinot Noirs listed on their web site that I would highly recommend.

'07 Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec Pinot Noir
'08 Evesham Wood Williamette Valley Pinot Noir
'07 Le Cadeau Rocheux Pinot Noir
'07 Le Cadeau Equinoxe Pinot Noir
'07 Westrey Oracle Vineyard Pinot Noir
'07 Westrey Abbey Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir
'02 Soter Beacon Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir

To be quite honest with you, I was stunned to see these wines. Most people in the States are not able to get these unless they purchase direct from the winery. Impressive to say the least.

Cheers

10

Greg,

great find [thumbs-up.gif] . I lived in Germany for a long time and didn´t even know that shop. As for shipping, as a general rule it is easy between all EU countries, no hassle or formalities involved. Alas, Switzerland is not part of the EU and they insist on making your life difficult when it comes to sending wine… But I have friends in Germany and will definitely try this shop.

As for European against US palates, I think this is a personal preference. Personally, I am very curious to try the more “fruit bomb” Pinots from the US as I am usually a Grenache whore and like it on the heavy side. Yes, yes, when I grow up I will develop a preference for the more sophisticated wines [berserker.gif]

Cheers
Christian

11

The '02 Soter BH is a fantastic bottle and probably still going strong (I have one more in my cellar that I should probably open)…

12

That’s a harsh, general comment.

Keep in mind that using the county of origin or the specific AVA (or both) is a labeling decision by the winery based on vineyard sources, TTB requirements and has zero to do with quality.

13

Christian – Thanks for the kind reply. I would point out that the Oregon Pinot’s I listed are not ‘fruit bombs.’ And, while I have heard of the California Pinot’s that the shop has listed, I’m not personally familiar with them. Thus, I can’t make a specific recommendation. Hopefully, someone with more experience than me, in that regard, will review the list and comment.

14

I was shocked to see this on the list. I wouldn’t mind having a well stored bottle or two of this myself.

15

It’s only a harsh general statement if you quote me out of context. Why did you quote me out of context, other than to make it look like I am writing a harsh generalization?

This is the full statement: “Los Alamos is not an official appellation, though good fruit from this region between Santa Maria and Santa Rita Hills will be bottled as ‘Santa Barbara County’ at times. Santa Barbara County is the label often used for the lesser wines, though.”

Of course there are good vineyards that only qualify for SBC AVA. Like certain vineyards near Los Alamos, for example! Or there are blends including both SRH and SMV that would qualify for SBC because they are blends. But the fact of the matter is if a winery can call it SMV or SRH, generally they will. In a great many cases the de-classified fruit from sub-appellations like SRH and SMV will end up in an SBC blend. Please note I also said often, as this is not an absolute.

Anyway, I don’t wish to start an argument, but I don’t appreciate being quoted to make my original post look dumb. What you say is absolutely true with respect to AVA’s and quality. But in practice, producers do use the SRH and SMV AVA’s on their upper tier bottlings as much as possible since I believe they are actively working to develop a reputation for these sub-AVAs. Stylistic preferences aside, very rarely will will a given producer’s SBC bottling match the quality of its SRH or SMV cuvee(s).

16

Whoa, call off the dogs; my response wasn’t intended to make your post look “dumb”.

I simply quoted what I thought was most glaring and could be misinterpreted by the OP who has no real experience with CA pinot.

Appreciate your detailed response, which, I still don’t necessarily agree with either, but that’s fine too.

[cheers.gif]

17

Melissa and I still have over a case of this in storage which we’ve had since purchasing it from Tony at the winery. Recent CT notes have been anything but complimentary, referencing “vegetal” and “astringent”, so I’ve been holding off on them, hoping they’ll get to a happier place.

You guys think otherwise, eh? Probably time to crack one and judge for ourselves.

18

No worries! Just didn’t like that one statement that softened the other was omitted. But it’s all contributing positively to the discussion in the end.

19

Actually, I have nothing to go on, except my last bottle of it–probably two years ago–which was great. I had been saving this one out to the later end of the suggested drinking window, which is about…now.

20

I understand these wines are not terribly highly thought of in the US, but I really like the Calera single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. Josh Jensen came and gave a tasting of them, including some wonderfully charming older bottles, when I was at Oxford. Lovely fellow he was too. Since then I have continued to buy and age his single-vineyards, they do age remarkably well. When I was in New York City (wine merchant and sushi bar crawling) a few years back I was amazed by how little they cost in the US. I think they are a top expression of Californian Pinot.

Cheers,

David.