Thank you sir for sharing.
Like I stated earlier, I wish to know more producers that makes brilliant product, even if later I found that isn’t my taste.
Wes has hard line biases. No getting past them.
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Not to cause too much thread drift (and I’m willing to create a separate thread about this), but what would you say are the Top 10 producers in Oregon?
I really have no idea–I don’t drink too much domestic pinots, but I have friends who love Oregon pinots, and I would like to learn more and the different styles of pinot that can be found there.
Why not start a new thread please?
Cheers
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Definitely want to explore that region more closely after a immensely enjoying one from that AVA. Only a two-hour drive for me.
Sure
For me, Occidental is the best above all. Seasmoke was also very impressive.
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I, like most folks here, am really saying these are the producers I like best.
And you are quite correct; ripeness is not first on my list when assessing my favs,
That said, I will also say that DdlC Pinots are the only CA Pinots I will search for or pay a premium price for - demonstrating just how good I think they are (for the style).
After many years of staying away from domestic wine, I find myself craving a good west coast PN every once in a while. I still don’t drink a lot of it, but every once in a while I stumble across a bottle of PN with a few years of age and really enjoy them. Recent examples include Arnot Roberts, Kutch, and Williams Selyem.
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Steve,
I think that the changes at Calera began quite a bit before Josh left. In fact, he talked with me a good bit about his frustrations as climate change brought about rising inland temperatures and drought. These pushed alcohols higher (I barrel tasted those wines), something he worked hard to combat.
Adam Lee
Clarice Wine Company
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Jim,
Spent almost 30 years doing this - making wine from both locations. There are obviously others. Matt Revelette now at Siduri, Eugenia Keegan did. Kathy Joseph. Dave Coventry did. Megan and now Alison at Walt. I am certain I am missing some.
It seems silly to me to talk about “California” as if it is one region. There are over 400 miles from Buellton to Boonville, and the differences are immense. As climate change occurs, we are seeing more differences depending on whether or not a vineyard has direct access to the ocean. Areas like the Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Lucia Highlands are staying cool, and maintaining acidities, while areas in the RRV, depending on location, are warming. South to north really isn’t applicable if you have the ocean to cool you.
Adam Lee
Clarice Wine Company
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Absolutely. It’s a small club. Relative to the number of folks that make either OR PN or CA PN the number that have done or are doing both is minuscule.
Also, for folks’ information when we had a block at Hirsch Vineyard at some point it became impossible to visit the site before harvest given the distance between our winery and Hirsch. Adam Lee had a block near ours and helped us with tracking the progress in September. If anything, Adam made the picking decision for that fruit. That’s my recollection 21+ years after the fact anyway.
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Briceland is still making wine; I spoke with @Andrew_Morris about an order last week. I don’t think Arcadian is making wine an longer though, funnily enough, I just happened upon an older Arcadian that had gotten lost in my cellar.
All these small batch pinots mentioned and yet the most polarizing (and generally loathed on WB) Meomi is possibly the most triumphant (and top producing) CA pinot success story in the history of CA pinot?
well obviously we’re not going to include hall of fame producers in the top 10 out of fairness
Just because I can …
Average / Median / Modal 1&2 USD Price by for 750ml bottle of Pinot Noir from Vintages 2011-2021 :
Oregon 47.48 45.00 60.00 / 50.00
California 57.41 53.10 60.00 / 75.00
Please note, this was just a fun exercise work on learning some data queries.
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I wish the topic used “Your Favorite” instead of a generic “Top 10”. There’d probably but probably not be less bickering but I suppose that’s the nature of the beast. OR, WA (SA etc) etc as expected crept in and took the discussion into another direction. Larry with the early win emoji. A lot of these comments read like people are drain pouring CA pinots.
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It was my honor to help out then.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out. From 1995 to 2023, I would say that I’ve seen more changes in picking dates and harvest numbers in the northern Willamette Valley (possible exception of Van Duzer Corridor) than I have in California’s Coast areas.
Adam Lee
Clarice Wine Company
definitely nature of the beast territory. we all hate the 100 point scale and top 10 lists and slideshows and what grape would you be personality quizzes but we’re also largely incapable of ignoring the lizard brain fascination with them.
i think CA pinot is widely purchased and consumed by WB readers but since the posting subset is fairly experienced, there’s less a sense of discovery and trendiness there.
it’s more fun (and certainly gets more engagement) to talk about oregon, germany, etc where there is less collective experience so discovery is possible (and there are some pretty stalwart representatives from that industry that do a lot of work here to raise awareness) - and of course, burgundy where price and scarcity create excitement and curiosity.
That’s kinda true - but as you can see by many of the responses, folks tend to gravitate towards only certain regions in CA and not necessarily explore many. So many ‘unturned stones’ throughout the state to continue to explore . . .
Cheers