Parker Review of CA Pinot Noir

I like the Sanford Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. I think the last one was 2001.

Very Nice, very burgundian.

"gerald" in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I for one don't think so.

But if you step back to a very long and inclusive focus -- embracing not only this moment and this issue, but its contexts in history and geography -- you compare _several_ hundred CA land parcels producing the wine grape variety -- which sounds like many, by itself -- to 20 thousand ? in Burgundy -- and even further, even think back some years to when there were only a _couple_ hundred of them in CA [vs. 45724 wine grape parcels at

That is a helpful tasting note. I have not tried any from the last couple of vintages but I've enjoyed Testarossa from California (and I was noticing the things in it that seemed Burgundian, because Burgundy pinots are most familiar to me, as to many people in the world, including wine writers). The winemaker from then is something of a Pinot expert and does know Burgundies very well.

Another California line I appreciate (I am storing some of them for longer term), again with definite old-world connections, is Mount Eden, whose facilities neighbor Testarossa's. Both wineries (if not necessarily their grape sources) are located in the Santa Cruz Mountains foothills

-- Max

Above the town of Los Gatos, I should have added. -- M