I would have to agree. And I would add -
1983 ARTERBERRY -
1983 AMITY Reserve
1980 AMITY Reserve
1981 DAVID BRUCE Santa Cruz Mountains
And in the recent category -
Most of the releases from PAUL LATO -
Both of these consumed in the past year:
Young: 2012 Shea Wine Cellars, Shea Vineyard, Estate (the best young New World Pinot Noir I’ve ever tasted).
Aged: 1996 Marcassin Pinot Noir, Marcassin Vineyard (an argument ensued when this was opened blind in front of my wine group: 50% of tasters thought it was a Musigny & 50% thought it was a Clos de Beze. All 10 agreed it had to be a 1993). Not one person guessed that it was a New World wine.
Hey Ed! I forgot about Chalone. A 70s Chalone was definitely my epiphany pinot. IIRC it was the 74. It started a pinot obsession that lasted 20 years. But for the most part, I did have to leave Cali for anything like that Chalone. I mean that I could afford or obtain.
Jason
Fred Arterberry was a friend of mine since our freshman year (1972) at Lewis & Clark College. Fred’s Pinots were great; I still have a bottle of his sparkler in my cellar somewhere. My fondest memory of him was the time he smuggled a gallon jug of homemade fruit wine into an on-campus Dan Hicks concert in May/June’73. In his pants. Under an overcoat. On a scorching hot evening. We ‘helped’ at Eyrie’s harvest in 1976. Good times.
What is imitation Burgundy, anyway?
2002 Littorai One Acre
Nice. I just brought a bottle of that home from the locker!
J
That was neck-and-neck with the 02 Savoy for me. More memorable for having had Jamie introduce it to me the first time we met in 2006.
John Thomas.
- 94 Broadley Claudia’s choice
- 92-94, 98-02 Beaux Freres Estate
- 99 & 02 Brickhouse Cuvée Doug
- 98 & 99 Ken Wright Arcus
- 98 Archery Summit premier cuvée
While not all of these come from ribbon ridge, that area in OR does produce some fantastic Pinot.
Honorable mention:
02 Le Cadeau
98 Ponzi Reserve
98 Domaine Drouhin Laurene
99 Ken Wright Abbey Ridge, just had recently ![[worship.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/9/99a8907a1d5b3c023582052741dc72dc9823c044.gif "worship"){kind=small}
98 Argyle Nuthouse
98 Domaine Serene Guadalupe & Evanstad Reserve, too bad there style has changed 
98 King Estate Domaine
NV Shafer (OR Shafer, was a blend of 97 & 98 vintages), best $3.99 pinot ever
A few in the cellar that might make the list:
90 Ponzi Reserve
92 Domaine Drouhin Laurene
94 Bethel Heights
2001 Arcadian Francesca. Had it about two years ago, and it was drinking beautifully.
2002 Kosta Browne Kanzler.
(or 2003 DP Rosé 
)
I also liked a Drouhin wine from Oregon a lot, but I’m quite sure that qualifies as “imitation Burgundy”.
I’ve never drunk anything from Alsace or Germany that sparked my interest. Everything I had smelled funny and tasted weak and underripe and overoaked. I’d be interested in trying some (or, more) from Switzerland. But Switzerland seems to be the most promising place in the whole wine world right now, so it’s no surprise.
This is a significantly interesting perspective. A few of us following would be very interesting in hearing more of your thoughts on this subject. Maybe this is a topic needs a new thread…
Ok, meet you in the other thread then, so that we can avoid thread drift.
Just saw this thread. If I had to call one, it would be 1979 Ponzi (tasted in late '80s). Next would be 1978 Eyrie, 1989 Evesham Wood Cuvee J, and 1985 Knudsen-Erath Vintage Select.
Branching out would include several mentioned upthread (94 Broadley CC, 85 Arterberry, several 70s and 80s Eyries). And an amazing 1988 Williams-Selyem Allen Vyd, my first real introduction to Pinot from California.
St. Innocent and several other Oregon producers are striking my fancy. Having traveled to Willamette 2 out of the last three years I’m just in love with the place. I also like Russian River PN’s including, Wren Hop.
Can’t remember the year or the vineyard, but it was a late 1980’s Williams-Selyem.
1994 Williams Selyem RRV, drank it 2 years ago. Cloudy, delicious, and ethereal.
I had my first Littorai wines last week when I visited the property. The wines we tasted were quite young, not surprisingly, so I could not rate it as highly as you did he 2006. However, they seemed very well made (loved the pale color and the elegance of the wines) and I will be interested in seeing how Littorai wines age.
The 1998s are currently in beautiful shape.