My tasting partner recently had a very long and difficult stretch of work, so when Friday evening rolled around, it was up to me to pick out 2 ‘good wines’ to compare. I decided to pick Pinot Noirs from both Oregon and California that we had in our cellar. A note on the prices- these were the prices we paid when we cellared these wines. We compared a Beaux Freres, Upper Terrace, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2004 ($75.00) 14.3% alcohol and a Laetitia, Les Galets, Arroyo Grande, 2004 ($70.00) 14.5% alcohol.
We both always like the Pinot Noirs from Beaux Freres. These wines are vinified in the ‘Old World’ or Burgundian (French) style, with a higher percentage of clusters and stems. They have more interest and are not as fruity as some New World styled Pinot Noirs. They seem to have more ‘herbaceous notes’ than a fruit forward Pinot Noir. That saying, we loved this Pinot from Beaux Freres and will be purchasing more.
We also enjoyed the Pinot Noir from Laetitia. It is vinified in a Burgundian style, but has more of a mineral taste. ‘Les galets’ means stones or pebbles. The grapes for this wine were grown in very stony soil. We enjoyed this wine as well. It had a nice finish and was balanced.
Beaux Freres, Upper Terrace 2004 ($75.00) 94 pts
Laetitia, Les Galets 2004 ($70.00) 92-3 pts
My tasting partner found an interesting article on the question of whole cluster versus destemmed grape fermentation which discusses the different approaches and the resulting wine.
Earlier in the month we tasted a Pinot Noir that was given to us as a gift. Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve, Pinot Noir, 2005, Willamette Valley, ($65.00) 14.1% alcohol. It is vinified in the Burgundian style, was balanced, and had some red fruit and a nice finish.
Domaine Serene, Evenstad Reserve 2005 ($65.00) 93 pts
After the ‘good ‘pinot tasting, I happened upon an offer of Pinot Noirs from The Wine Club. The wine was Samsara Pinot Noir, Las Hermanas, Santa Rita Hills, Ca, 2008 ($44.99) and 14.4% alcohol. It is a limited production of only 100 cases. I took a chance and ordered a few bottles, and we tasted one the evening it arrived. As my tasting partner said ‘this is what we are looking for’; the wine had a deep fruit taste balanced by herbaceous notes, nice tannins and a decent finish. At $44.99 it was a great buy and we will be on the look out for more wines from this vineyard.
Samsara Pinot Noir, Las Hermanas 2008 ($44.99) 93-4 pts
The Wine Club in Santa Ana, Ca. (1-800-966-5432)
For those of you in the San Francisco area, there is also
The Wine Club
953 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 (1-800-966-7835)
No comments:
Post a Comment