Pinot Noir for $20 suggestions...

suggestions???

Acacia Pinot Noir and Shug (Sonoma and Carneros). Even Kenwood Pinot Noir.

We've seen the Brooks 2002 Pinot going for $15-17, and it's nice. The winemaker is sadly dead of a heart attack this fall, so there won't be more coming.

suggestions???

In about that price range (US$21 Costco), I like the Acacia Carneros. It is probably at its best about 1-2 years from release (properly cellared), but is very, very drinkable upon release. They also do a Beckstoffer [SP?] single vineyard, that is about US$50, but I've not found enough difference to put down more than 6 blts of it.

OR has a ton of really great US PN's in that range, and one cannot go too wrong with any of them. They are a bit more toward the mushroom, damp earth characters, than the CA, especially the Carneros PN's, but very good at their pp, just less fruit forward.

Hunt

As a non-Pinot Noir fan, this is one of the few that I have enjoyed recently:

I don't know if it is available in the U.S. but I imagine it would be within your price bracket if it is.

Incidentally, only by searching for a link for this did I realise that Montana is now a part of Allied Domeque. These people have established a reputation for wholesale vandalism and destruction of some of the U.K.'s oldest brands of beer, so I hope that they don't do the same to Montana and other brands such as Tatachilla and St. Hallett.

Regards,

Ian

"Max Hauser" in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

Sorry about that, the last wine was actually again the 2002 Schug Carneros. Which I encountered unusually. First I was given a bottle and asked for an appraisal, knowing nothing about it (that tasting note is attached). Lately I tried it again during a restaurant meal and decided to buy some. $18 in the US (to shippable states) directly from the winery with 10% discount (general?) -- I did not do the order, I was part of someone else's. (I hope all this is useful information for someone. I envy those with the patience, or the fingers, to type in lots of tasting notes.)

--

(From --, 7 July 04, about $20 at winery and reportedly stocked at Whole Foods. Identified by -- as prospective good value.)

(NB : The letter "T" indicates where I began actual tasting as well as smelling.)

Bright berryish, stemmy, meaty. Suggestions of young oak. T an un-Pinot, or un-traditional-Pinot, raspberry note is conspicuous. Orange peel, vanilla. I'm reminded of the particular effects in the younger-generation Dujac label. Impression of strong alcohol. Lots of fruit acid but not the matching tannin to carry it to long development. Green-pepper sagelike vegetable stem that is not really my style. Later smells: Caramel-clove note, almost candied apple. Partial oak toast?