{"id":51,"date":"2009-05-18T19:59:11","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T19:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=51"},"modified":"2009-05-18T20:10:20","modified_gmt":"2009-05-18T20:10:20","slug":"plenty-of-quality-pinot-noirs-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"Plenty of Quality Pinot Noirs Available"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PinotThe rise of Pinot Noir is amazing.\u00c2\u00a0 The movie, Sideways, elevated the image and awareness of this special grape.\u00c2\u00a0 But with every gift there is a catch.\u00c2\u00a0 The pure economics of supply and demand come into play.\u00c2\u00a0 Demand rose, supplies were short, and prices rose to very high levels.\u00c2\u00a0 This was great for wineries who sold out their wines at top dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 I could barely fill a Pinot tasting 2 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone was out of Pinot before I asked for it.\u00c2\u00a0 Consumers didn't care about price.\u00c2\u00a0 They wanted top quality Pinot regardless.\u00c2\u00a0 Fast forward to 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 The market is in the tank.\u00c2\u00a0 Due to the tough economic times, wine consumers\u00c2\u00a0have become more selective as to how they spend their hard earned dollars.\u00c2\u00a0 There is plenty of high end Pinots to go around.\u00c2\u00a0 I can tell you that 60+ were submitted for our April tastings.\u00c2\u00a0 We tackled them in flights.\u00c2\u00a0 This post will be a summary of the main blind tasting.\u00c2\u00a0 The next post will be a summary of the winners from the various mini flights we did over the last month or so.<\/p>\n

Which Pinots won the tasting and warrant your hard earned dollars?\u00c2\u00a0 We tried 14 wines in this tasting and recommended 13 of them.\u00c2\u00a0 As you can see, the quality level was pretty high.\u00c2\u00a0 Five wines scored Very Good+ and received 90+ scores.\u00c2\u00a0 Let's get right into it.<\/p>\n

\"ElkOur clear winner of this tasting was from Oregon.\u00c2\u00a0 It was the 2007 Elk Cove \u201cFive Mountain\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/strong><\/a> for $48<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel scored this wine Very Good+ and awarded it 92 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 It opens with a smoky cherry bouquet with notes of tobacco.\u00c2\u00a0 On the palate, this wine is medium-bodied, very nicely balanced, and velvety.\u00c2\u00a0 It displays savory, dusty raspberry flavors with hints of cinnamon.\u00c2\u00a0 There was also infused oak and tobacco as well.\u00c2\u00a0 This sophisticated Pinot is very food-friendly and would pair quite well with salmon, squab, or osso bucco.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, there were only a 153 cases of this gem made.\u00c2\u00a0 So call the winery and get your hands on this wine soon.\u00c2\u00a0 It won't last very long.<\/p>\n

\"HamiltonOur runner up was not far behind.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2007 Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir<\/strong><\/a>\u00c2\u00a0from the Hemel en Aarde Valley in South Africa was very impressive and similar to our winner.\u00c2\u00a0 It comes in at $44<\/strong> per bottle.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel gave it 91 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 It opened with a smoky, light oak infused, black cherry bouquet with hints of leather.\u00c2\u00a0 It is medium-bodied, nicely balanced, and savory with slightly sweet cherry flavors.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a nice amount of oak blended in as well.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel felt this wine would pair very well with smoked pork tenderloin or coq au vin.<\/p>\n

\"FreestoneIn third place was the 2006 Freestone Pinot Noir<\/strong><\/a>\u00c2\u00a0from the Sonoma Coast.\u00c2\u00a0 This wine is a second label from the Joseph Phelps family of wines.\u00c2\u00a0 It costs $75<\/strong> and received 90 points <\/strong>from the panel.\u00c2\u00a0 It is medium-bodied, evenly balanced, and shows nice structure.\u00c2\u00a0 The flavor profile is a savory raspberry and plum blend.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel would pair this attractive wine with duck or a ribeye with a garlic butter sauce.<\/p>\n

\"DuttonOn the heels of the Freestone was the 2006 Dutton Goldfield \u201cMcDougall Vineyard\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/a><\/strong> for $55<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 This wine from the Sonoma Coast also scored 90 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 As you will see, Dutton Goldfield's Pinots did very well in our tastings this month.\u00c2\u00a0 This particular Pinot was medium bodied and balanced with a blend of sweet raspberry and chalky black cherry flavors.\u00c2\u00a0 Notes of vanilla were detected as well.\u00c2\u00a0 I personally felt this Pinot had the best finish of the evening.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel thought this wine would pair well with stuffed game hens or with pasta smothered in a Bolognese sauce.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MerryThe Merry Edwards entry in this tasting finished in fifth place with a score of 90 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 As a matter of fact, all of Merry's entries have scored near the top of each of their flights.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2006 \u201cMeredith Estate\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/strong><\/a> for $54 <\/strong>was very well received by the panel.\u00c2\u00a0 Like all of Merry's Pinots, this wine hails from the Russian River Valley. It is medium-bodied, very smooth, a touch flinty, and well balanced.\u00c2\u00a0 Its flavors are a blend of raspberry and strawberries with a dash of pepper and spice mixed in.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel felt this Pinot would pair nicely with shrimp cocktail or a seared tuna steak.<\/p>\n

\"SiduriTwo wines that just missed the 90 point mark were the 2006 Goldeneye 2006 \u201cGowan Creek Vineyard\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/a><\/strong> for $75<\/strong> and the 2006 Siduri \u201cShaw Mountain Vineyard\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/a> <\/strong>for $39<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 The Goldeneye is from Anderson Valley, CA and the Siduri is from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.\u00c2\u00a0 We scored the Goldeneye Gowan Very Good and gave it 89.375 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 The Siduri Shaw was awarded with 89.25 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 The Gowan was balanced and creamy.\u00c2\u00a0 It displayed sweet cherry flavors with notes of clove mixed in.\u00c2\u00a0 The Shaw opened with an old oak infused pipe tobacco and cherry like bouquet.\u00c2\u00a0 On the palate it was medium-bodied, balanced, warm, and silky.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel felt this entry would be an ideal match for mushroom risotto.<\/p>\n

\"NavarroFinally, this next wine was clearly one of the best deals of the tasting.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2006 Navarro Vineyards \u201cMethode a L'Anciente\u201d\u009d Pinot Noir<\/a><\/strong> costs only $29<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 When you consider that the panel scored this wine 89 points<\/strong>, it was quite a bargain.\u00c2\u00a0 It opens with an attractive strawberry bouquet with a hint of spice mixed in.\u00c2\u00a0 It was very nicely balanced and smooth with delicious strawberry flavors.\u00c2\u00a0 They would pair it with salmon or lobster.<\/p>\n

Other recommended Pinot Noirs:
\n9.) Chehalem 2006 Pinot Noir \u201cStoller Vineyard\u201d\u009d<\/a><\/strong> (Dundee Hills, OR) $44<\/strong> (88.125<\/strong>)
\n10.) Byron 2006 Pinot Noir \u201cSierra Madre Vineyard\u201d\u009d<\/strong><\/a> (Santa Maria Valley, CA) $40<\/strong> (88<\/strong>)
\n11.) Adobe Road 2006 Pinot Noir \u201cO'Neel Vineyard\u201d\u009d<\/strong><\/a> (Russian River Valley, CA) $48<\/strong> (VG 88<\/strong>)
\n12.) Hartford 2006 Pinot Noir \u201cFog Dance Vineyards\u201d\u009d<\/strong><\/a> (Green Valley, CA) $45<\/strong> (87.75<\/strong>)
\n13.) Michel Picard 2006 Pinot Noir \u201cRecolte du Domaine Voarick\u201d\u009d<\/a><\/strong>(Givry, France) $28<\/strong> (87.38<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

As you can see all these wines are Very Good or Better.\u00c2\u00a0 It was one of our best tastings this year.\u00c2\u00a0 These Pinots and the ones in the next post, all warrant your attention.\u00c2\u00a0 We you hope enjoy them as much as we did.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cheers,
\nKen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rise of Pinot Noir is amazing.\u00c2\u00a0 The movie, Sideways, elevated the image and awareness of this special grape.\u00c2\u00a0 But with every gift there is a catch.\u00c2\u00a0 The pure economics of supply and demand come into play.\u00c2\u00a0 Demand rose, supplies were short, and prices rose to very high levels.\u00c2\u00a0 This was great for wineries who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-pinot-noir","category-wine-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}