Smoking Loon 2006 & 2007 Pinot Noir – California

Nose of blackberry and black cherry. The nose on the 06 is more distinctive; the 07 is a little alcoholy and vague, with more of a generic red wine aroma. Tastes from the 06 were of dried cherries and plum; with the 07, a bit more smoke and minerals. Some nice pinot earthiness with both. More toward the French style rather than a new-world fruit bomb. And we really don’t like “stupid-story-gimmick-labels,” and Smoking Loon has one of the worst. Tell us something about the wine, or its growing conditions, or something substantial if you have to say something on the back. Either vintage alone would probably have garnered a Yes rating, but the differences between the two make us downgrade it a notch, to Yes/Maybe. $9-10 on sale, regularly $12-14.

Castle Rock Pinot Noir 2007 – California

We’ve experienced back-and-forth availability for this, yet it’s always been one of our favorite inexpensive Pinots. Recently found it again on one of our travels. Despite our challenges finding it in rural Washington, it seems to have pretty wide availability.

Nose is of cherry, cherry, cherry. Taste is of cherry, cherry, cherry – a mixed bowl of cherries. (“Just a bowl of cherries.” Sorry.) Maybe a tiny touch of earth, and some notes of rose hips and thimbleberries. (Does anyone else know what a thimbleberry tastes like? It’s sort of a soft, mild raspberry.) House. Usually about $10 on sale, $12 retail.

Cathedral Ridge Pinot Noir 2006 - Oregon

Nose of smoke and black cherry. The tastes carry through with the same notes, and some acidity and heat. This feels “young,” and might benefit from a couple of years of bottle age. (Or not. It’s hard to tell with anything less than great Pinots if they’ll improve with age, or just become tired versions of their younger selves.) Maybe. $26

Mirassou Pinot Noir 2006 & 2007 – California

We’ve been searching for a cheap, fruity Pinot Noir as a replacement for the “original” Beringer Founders Estate we loved so much when it was made from California grapes. The 2006 Mirassou, from a sixth-generation California wine family, came pretty darn close. The nose was smoky, with some plum and cherry notes, maybe pomegranate. The tastes included those smoke, plum, and cherry flavors, along with some other great fruit, including some nice grape flavors. (Yes, we know, “grape,” weirdly, isn’t supposed to be a positive flavor in contemporary wines, but we rather like the tastes of fresh, ripe grapes.) The plum tastes were sweet (not in a sugary sense), and there was also some mild dark cherry and a hint of spiciness. This was very smooth and nice, and was on our short list for a new standby for our “cheap-and-fruity” California Pinot. We rated it House/Yes. $10 on sale, usually around $12.

The first bottle of the 2007 we tried echoed the above themes. We were pleased. But then, after two more bottles of the 07, we’re not so sure. The wine is now earthier and has lost much of the fruitiness we enjoyed so much. Is this a case of inconsistency? Between vintage years? Or even between bottles? Hard to judge. The latest wines aren’t bad (in the sense of being corked or such), just not the same. We’ll try a few more bottles, as we have liked this wine, and report our findings. (The 2007 is what’s on the shelves now.) As of now, we’re changing this rating to Yes/Maybe, until further tasting.

Another weird note: Looking back at some of our much older notes, we’d previously had this on our No list. Our notes don’t have details that far back, or mention why we rated it a No. But it probably shows what a difference vintage year or grape source can make. Or maybe our tastes changed, or we had a bad bottle previously.

More wine drinking (what a shame) is in order to see if we can determine a pattern, and if we’ll continue to keep trying this over the long term. Consistency is something we look for in “everyday” wines, so it’s not really looking good for this Mirassou, although we’ll keep an open mind.

Beringer Third Century Pinot Noir 2006 – California

After loving Beringer’s Founders Estate Pinot when it was made with California grapes, and not loving it when it was made with French or Italian grapes, we decided to try this “Central Coast” (California) Pinot. It opens with a blackberry nose that’s very nice. Taste-wise, it’s much more of a French style (which we like) and far better than the Founders French mentioned above. Still, we’re looking for that great New World fruit style to replace our “original” favorite Founders Pinot. Alas, this isn’t it. Tastes of smoke, earth, with a short, acid, almost lemony finish. Not much fruit on the palate. Yes/Maybe. $12 on sale, usually 16.

Cloudline Pinot Noir 2006 – Oregon

We had this wine at Cedars Floating Restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, at the recommendation of our waitress. (It’s always a question of how much wine experience wait staff have, and if their tastes are at all like ours.) The wine starts with a smoky, peppery nose. Tastes of earth, smokiness, black current. Very smooth, rich, and integrated. Yes. $45 on the restaurant’s wine list; we found it for about $24 retail. (Watch for an upcoming article about restaurant wine mark-ups.)

Cedars Restaurant floats on the waters along the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene. It’s a cute concept, and the restaurant is kinda northwest nautical inside. The menu and wine list are nice for this part of the country, and food was cooked to order and imaginatively.

Cambria Vin Gris of Pinot Noir 2007 – California

Beautiful rose red color. Bone dry. This is a food wine, not an aperitif sipper. It has a feint nose of strawberries, and tastes of pansies, pomegranate, maybe a little apple and dried flowers. As much as we generally enjoy most Cambria wines, this is only a Maybe. $11

Concannon Pinot Noir 2005 – California

We’re always looking for good, affordable Pinot Noir – they’re hard beasts to find. We used to love Mark West’s Corsican Pinot, until they started sourcing grapes from California. We enjoyed Redwood Creek, but it too changed grape sources. The Beringer we had on our list switched from California grapes to Italy and France – we railed against all these changes before, so all 3 are now off our list. Castle Rock had been a favorite of ours, but it’s currently hard for us to find.

So it was a joy to sample this Concannon. We loved their Petite Sirah, and this wine is in the same quality class. It opens with a great cherry nose, and the tastes are of cherry, raspberries, and earth. We described it in our notes as “somehow light yet weighty.” Velvety tannins. This is a perfect marriage of French and California styles – France for the earth and structure and California for the fruit. House. $14

Buyer Beware: Grape Trickery at Beringer, BV, Redwood Creek, Mark West

We used to claim that some of the best affordable Pinot Noirs came from big producers such as Beringer. But the Beringer Pinot we loved was from California. Then Beringer began sourcing grapes from France, and later from Italy. We liked those wines less (France) and a lot less (Italy). So we sorta gave up on Beringer Pinot.

Last night, we opened a Redwood Creek Pinot we were familiar with and it was completely different from our previous bottles. What happened, again, is that the winery stopped sourcing grapes from France and it’s now Italian. A similar experience happened with a BV Pinot a few months ago.

BV is now owned by Diageo; Beringer by Beringer Blass; Redwood Creek by Gallo; and Mark West by Constellation. (At least they were the last time we looked. Huge beverage companies trade wineries like commodities nowadays.) All are just little parts of big wine conglomerates, and the factory wines they are producing more-and-more taste like it.

In our opinion, if a winery is going to completely change the source of its grapes, it needs to produce a completely different label highlighting that fact. As it is, maybe the less-knowledgeable (or rushed) consumer will be fooled and just buy a bottle of cheap Pinot and be satisfied enough to buy it again. But our guess is that the quality and flavor fluctuations will turn off many customers – like it has for us.

We don’t want to scrutinize every label, especially of a wine we’ve had before and enjoyed. So guess what, Beringer, BV, Redwood Creek? We’re just gonna buy someone else’s wine next time. Guess this just gives us a chance to try other new and potentially interesting wines.

Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir 2006 – California

Wonderful nose of cherry and chocolate. Tastes of cherry, maybe a little plum, pomegranate, and chocolate (the label says “anise” and we could maybe find that). Very smooth, with a soft finish. Yet as it spends time open, it weirdly develops some nice acidity on the finish. Yes. $14

Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir 2005 – France

Dry, French, and minerally. A little rustic. (You know, we just used that word – one we’ve seen in respected wine magazines – for the first time. We actually don’t have the faintest idea what it really means, but it somehow seems right for this wine. We think of maybe barnwood and hayfields.) A bit of plum on the nose. Similar to the Redwood Creek French/California Pinot we previously reviewed, but with a bit less fruitiness. Yes/Maybe. $10 on sale, about $13 retail.

Jason (Pahlmeyer) Pinot Noir 2005 – California

Pahlmeyer is known for its “industrial strength” reds (Cabernet, Merlot, and red blends) and Chardonnay. We understand this is only the second vintage for the Pinot Noir, and it’s a stunner, yet different from many other Pahlmeyer reds. This opens with a big nose of cherry fruit, and the tastes continue with more of a fruit-bomb of cherry flavors. This is surprisingly high in alcohol for a Pinot (yet not so for a Pahlmeyer), yet has nicely balanced tannins and acids – very smooth and integrated. About $65. Yes.

Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir 2006 – Italy

Another of the California/Euro hybrid Pinots, but this one isn’t successful. Cheap-tasting, harsh, young “red” wine. We’d had it on our No list before, but hadn’t tasted it in several years (and had forgotten to look at that list when we purchased this bottle). We know why. Pinot Noir from Italy sounds to us like Chardonnay from China. No. $10 (thank goodness we only paid $5 on sale, and only bought one bottle).

Best Affordable Holiday Wines

We thought we’d list three wines – sparkling, white, and red – perfect for the holidays. All are affordable (under $12), widely available, and go good with most any type of food. They may not be our absolute favorites in each category, but all are excellent, versatile, and reliable.

Sparkling – Cristalino Rose Brut Cava Non-Vintage (Spain)
This is a wonderful, fun “adult Kool-Aid” wine. Very little sweetness for an inexpensive pink sparkler. Good with food, or on its own. We generally appreciate the price/quality ratio of nearly all Spanish Cavas. Cristalino also makes a nice regular Brut, just as pleasant and affordable, if you can’t bring yourself to go with a “pink” wine.

White – Barton & Guestier (B&G) Vouvray 2005 (France)
A wonderfully integrated expression of Chenin Blanc. Tastes of pear, apple, and definitely some weight (more so than the typical ethereal California Chenins). The faintest hint of softness (pretty typical of almost all Chenins) but with just the same hint of acidity to balance it out. A pleasant surprise if all your impressions of Chenin are cheap, light, and sweet.

Red – Beringer Founder's Estate Pinot Noir 2005 (California)
It's hard to find a reliably good yet affordable California Pinot. This Beringer tastes like the skin of a red apple, with a nose of roses and blackberries. It's slightly smoky, with some decent tannins. Just enough weight to be sipped on its own, but still light enough to pair well with most holiday dinners.

Thanksgiving Salmon & Domaine Ste. Michelle Sparkler

WINE
Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Noirs (Non-vintage) – Washington
Not what we expect from a sparkler made from Pinot Noir grapes. Nose of lemon and a touch of yeast. Tastes of lemon, citrus, and maybe a little tangerine. We had this several years ago and had forgotten our rating, but looking back on old notes it’s still the same. No. $10 on sale (usually about $14).

THANKSGIVING DINNER
Due to our circumstances of a new move and not wanting to travel, it was just the two of us for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in years. We had salmon in herb butter, a lemon/herb rice creation, good old Ocean Spray cranberry sauce from a can, and our famous pumpkin chocolate cheesecake (which has been a hit at any holiday occasion we’ve brought it to).

B&G Bistro Wine Pinot Noir 2005 – France

It appears that the “Pinot Noir light” craze is here. This is fresh, fruity, like a Beaujolais Nouveau but with Pinot Noir instead of Gamay grapes. To us, better than either a Beaujolais Nouveau or the previously rated Echelon Pinot. And better than most reds we've had in bistros in France - this has some balance and roundness, not the youth and harshness too typical in France. Yes. B&G is a very reliable producer (see our review of their Vouvray). $9.

Echelon Pinot Noir 2006 – France

Still another French/California hybrid. Like a French bistro wine – pleasant, “red” wine. If it were 5 Euros in a café in Paris, it would be good. At $11 on the U.S. grocery store shelves, it’s a Maybe, at best.

Beringer Pinot Noir & Eating Local

WINE
Beringer Founder's Estate 2005 Pinot Noir (California)
It's hard to find a reliably good affordable California Pinot. This Beringer tastes like the skin of a red apple, with a nose of roses and blackberries. It's smoky, with some decent tannins. A House/Yes wine (definitely a House for Francesca). Price unknown, probably under $12.

[Update: As previously mentioned, if we find a wine rated elsewhere, we will note those ratings – but only after we write our reviews. This was recommended by Smart Money in their August 2007 issue. We don't know what vintage or grape source - a critical issue with Beringer's Pinots.]

DINNER
Most of us can’t very well eat completely “locally,” as the authors of Plenty (the 100-Mile Diet) did. (And although it’s a great book and a wonderful message, one must remember that it was obviously written by two journalists with a “concept” for a book in mind.) But we really enjoy eating as local as we can. Last night we had corn from the farmer’s market, picked that morning from a field about 8 miles away – amazingly sweet and tender. We accompanied it with a Shaggy Mane Mushroom Alfredo (the Shaggy Manes were from our pasture), spiced with home-grown basil. Yes, the Alfredo noodles were commercial. The wine was a Columbia Crest Riesling (don’t know how far from our Washington home it was grown and produced, but still within the same state). Chocolate-chip cookies from a local bakery (and we really don’t care where they got their ingredients – at least they were “home made” and not from a package at the grocery store). At the farmer’s market we also picked up local tomatoes, peaches, and lettuce mix – all from no more than 20 miles away. For us, it’s certainly about health – for ourselves and for the planet, but it’s also supporting local producers and simply a way to eat the freshest foods imaginable. The sad part is that even a simple meal such as this would be totally unavailable, impracticable, and downright impossible for 90 percent or more Americans - ain’t no wild Shaggy Mane mushrooms growing in New York City.

Redwood Creek Pinot Noir 2005 - France/California

Redwood Creek Pinot Noir 2005 (France, via California)
This Pinot Noir Vin de Pays d’Oc is “produced” in France but imported and bottled by Frei Brothers Vineyards in California. More California winemakers are looking outside their borders, and it’s paying off. We previously found a great Corsican Pinot Noir from Mark West (California), and this Redwood Creek is another example.
The wine has a cherry nose, and lots of layers of flavor and texture – black cherry, some tannins, even some of our preferences for “French dirt” tastes. It’s almost “halfway” between a true French style and a California fruity one. A House/Yes wine. $6 and a fabulous buy.

Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir 2005 & Omelette

On July 26, 2007
WINE
Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir 2005 (California)
Oh, my, this was nice. We saw it on the shelves, and decided to try as we love Ferrer’s Blanc de Noir sparkling wine (also made from Pinot Noir grapes). Gloria Ferrer is owned by the Spanish company that makes Freixenet Cava. This Pinot is definitely European in style – almost like a French Burgundy. Nose of dark cherries and earth. Tastes of minerals, cherries, and a little spice, with a great tannic/toast finish that’s not overdone. Beautifully integrated. (Ken likes to say that drinking wines like this is like tasting “French dirt” – meant in a very good sense.) A House/Special Occasion/Yes wine. $23.

DINNER
We wanted something simple and light, so had an omelette with sautéed squash, red pepper, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese inside.