Pinot Noir Recommendations Wanted

Domaine Drouhin of Oregon is one of my favorites of Oregon Chards. About $25-$30 bottle last time I bought.

Dimitri,

First tell me where you're getting Lafon and Niellon 1er Crus at $40 or less!

My first vote in Oregon usually goes to St. Innocent.

In California I tend to have a preference for wines from Carneros over the bigger RRVs. I have a historical fondness for Saintsbury, some vintages of the Reserve ('95 stands out) are quite good, though a '98 recently failed to impress. Depending on how many wines you are serving, you might try to have an Oregon, a Carneros, a Russian River Valley, and maybe one from the Santa Barbara area. Compare with 4 different villages of Burgundy.

As to the Burgundy, hard to argue with producers like Chevillon (my fave in NSG), but as you're including Chambolles I'd rec Roumier and Mugnier. Probably only village wines, no 1ers, for under $40, but I'd stack their village Chambolles against 95% of the premiers. And very distinctively Burgundy, you'd never mistake for New World.

Please post notes on the event! Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

If I told you that I'd have to kill you. ;)

I can find these for about $60 (not the tete du cuvees), sometimes even less. The 97 Niellon Chassagne is about $50. The Lafon Volnay 1er is a little more. $40 is meant to be a median, not a cap. Maybe I should've said $20-60 instead. The wines do not *have* to be premier crus, but I just threw that out there as an idea of the quality range I am expecting. No DRC or Marcassin.

Obviously the village wines of good producers can top the grand crus of mediocre ones. You pretty much mention that below.

Not a bad idea.

Thanks for the advice!

Dimitri

That sounds about right. I paid around $55 each for the 1999 and 2000 Lafon Volnay Santenots Milieu, and the 1er runs around $45 or so on release.

I am a burg fan first and foremost, but for suggestions of US Pinots to add to the mix I would consider,

Ken Wright Brick House (best for this tasting, if you can find it) Drouhin Rex Hill Beaux Freres

For Chardonnay, much more difficult. But there are some out there that would make intruiging comparisons- though no CA chardonnay can hold a candle to Niellon (I am recalling an event of Niellon vs. Kistler as I write this)

Paul Hobbs is my #1 suggestion Montelena Ferrari Carano Kistler Ponzi Mer de Soleil

I have not necessarily chosen the best wines, but rather ones that I think would make some interesting conversation. The Mer de Soleil is a wine I personally detest for being so overblown, but it will make a good comparison to the ripe Niellon just to see the different approaches.

Also, if you are open to expanding beyond Chard, stick a Beringer Alluvium Blanc or Caymus Conundrum in the mix. Would make for a good ringer if this will be a bling tasting- and will keep everyone guessing.

Have fun and please post TNs here! I would love to see how this goes.

Take care,

Tom.

PS- I really like your burgundy choices for this event. A very good cross section of the various styles in a small grouping.

Try Patz and Hall or Archery Summit. Bi!!

Oregon Pinots to try

Antica Terra (small vintner) 2001 Croft Vineyard was especially good (but I think that it's sold out) Owen Roe/Sineann/David Reilly (same vintner, different labels) Winter Hill ($25 range out here) Witness Tree (some good WS ratings for it's 1998 bottling)

These are mostly in the $25 to $45 range, although O'Reilly makes a cheaper Pinot that's decent.

BTW, Hill of Content (Aussie or NZ, I forget) made a very nice Pinot for under $20 or recent vintage. Haven't seen the latest release yet.

Cheers

Mike H

Dimitri, In place of Davis Bynum, I'd take Gary Farrell (IMO one of the superstars of CA PN) -- and do you mean Carneros Creek? Like Dale, I'd add Saintsbury Reserve to your list. And if you really want to throw people for a loop, try to find some of Gruet's Pinot Noir (from New Mexico) -- it's very good and much closer to France than CA in orientation.

Like the others, I hope that you post notes! Mark Lipton

I meant Domaine Carneros.

I like Gary Farrell's wines, but believe it or not I was not excited by his pinots. I visited his winery earlier this year and my favorite wines were his whites! I think he does have some vineyard designate pinot that I did not taste, though. It's fuzzy, but I think I had the Russian River bottling and the Sonoma County bottling of pinot. Neither were exciting.

I went to Davis-Bynum right after Gary Farrell. Gary used to be the winemaker for Davis-Bynum. Most of Davis-Bynum's wines were not good. Overall, Gary's were better. However, Davis-Bynum has an Allen Vineyard bottling that is simply outstanding. It stuck out like a sore thumb and of course I bought some. The other difference with that bottling is that it was one of the few wines made by Davis-Bynum's new winemaker (who started with the 2000 or

2001 vintage). The previous winemaker (not Gary) must not have been very good, but I see that the winery has won some accolades lately. The Allen Vineyard bottling scored a 92 in Wine Enthusiast.

Dimitri

Aha! Yes, their "Famous Gate" is quite a nice wine (in the years I've tried it).

That's too bad. His "Allen Vyd" and "Rochioli" bottlings are typically standouts, but the '99 RRV is also a very good Pinot Noir. I haven't had the most recent offerings, but now you've got me worred...

I'll have to look for it. My memories of Davis Bynum go back to the days when their office was located on San Pablo Ave. near the Berkeley/Albany border. On my most recent visit to their current winery, I got into a long conversation with his son, the current owner. Despite my fond memories, their wines were quite unexciting (that was Dec. '01, however, shortly after Mr. Farrell had left) and he pressed me to buy his '99 "Le Pinot" (at $75/bottle) without the benefit of tasting it, a not terribly pleasant situation that I escaped as quickly as I could.

Mark Lipton

I like it, too, although at $40 it is more of a novelty. I think it is available only direct from the winery.

These sell out quickly and while they were offered at the winery they were not pouring them. If I recall correctly, they were expensive, too (>$50). I'm sure they are good, though, since the fruit is good. I liked Gary's sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and zinfandel better. It's not that the pinot was *bad*, though - just too expensive for what it is.

I got this feeling from them, too. They really wanted to push whatever it was that they could get away with. Most of there wines *are* unexciting, but the Allen Vineyard bottling stands out from the rest and I told them as much. That is when they mentioned the new winemaker. I haven't been back, so I don't now what the new releases are like.

Dimitri

I have always had great tastes from Robert Stemmler (Sonoma)

Kalin Pinot Noir has bcome my all-time favorite.

Kalin makes good wines. I have had the sauvignon blanc and I am currently cellaring chardonnay. I have heard the pinot is very good, but also quite unusual. What are your other favorites so that I may calibrate?

Dimitri

I also like Chalone. A few Oregon Pinot such as King and Adelsheim have been OK but Kalin is one of the best and all their wines are library wines to begin with. Their Sauvignon blanc is probably the most interesting taste in all California wines and current release is 1995 for it and the Pinot.

Kalin also makes a sparkler that I've been meaning to try.

Dimitri

I've never tried their sparkling wine. What does it compare to?

No idea. I've been meaning to try it! :)

Dimitri

I will find some and try it myself. Thanks for the idea.

Try the 2002 Byron - Santa Maria Valley. Excellent. Under $20.00

tricky