2009 California Pinot Noir: Best Vintage Ever?

Wine Spectator called the 2007 California Pinot Noir vintage the "best ever". Now there's talk 2009 might be even better than 2007. The skeptic in me is starting to think this is like Bordeaux where a vintage of the century comes around three out of five years, but the reality is Pinot Noir consumption outpaces all other varieties combined around here so I'm paying attention to the accolades and buying 2009 California Pinot Noir. Although Oregon's Willamette Valley has a reputation for being the home of domestic Pinot Noir, all things considered I prefer the options available from California.

It's mostly because south of $30 I've had better luck with California Pinot Noir. Many of the lower-end bottlings from Oregon I've tried fall flat on the mid-palate and are accompanied by a green/stemmy aftertaste that sometimes dominates the flavor profile. It's not to say that there aren't fantastic Oregon Pinot Noirs. Far from it. But of the wines available in Massachusetts it seems like you have to spend north of $40 to find an outstanding bottle.

And that's not the case with California Pinot Noir. While it's not easy to find a great California Pinot Noir for around $25, higher production levels and wider distribution do make it possible.

If you search Wine Spectator's tasting notes for 90+ point Pinot Noir made in the US since 2006 costing less than $20 you'll find 5 wines. Two of them were made by Siduri (their 2007 Sonoma County and 2007 Willamette Valley).

As we look at early ratings for 2009s, three wines from Siduri again stand out: The 2009 Siduri Russian River Valley Pinot Noir (91WS/$29), the 2009 Siduri Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (also 91WS/$29), and the 2009 Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir (92WS/$29).

I tried the 2009 Russian River Valley a while back and was unimpressed. I thought it was a little over-ripe and hot at points. I'd rate it 87 points. This left me a little "spooked" until I tried the 2009 Santa Lucia Highlands at the Wine Spectator event in Boston a while back. It showed quite well so I tracked down a bottle to try. I'm glad I did.

The 2009 Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir is a powerful and focused wine with classic California Pinot Noir markings. It's generously fruit-forward with primarily black cherry notes but refrains from straying into over-ripe territory - at least for my palate. It finishes clean with just the slightest bit of heat on the backend. Overall an outstanding wine. I'll go along with Spectator's rating on this one: 92 points WWP.

I think it's one to check out, especially if you can find it for less than $25. It's also trending a point or two higher than the 09 Siduri Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast bottlings on CellarTracker. A terrific example of outstanding California Pinot Noir and an insightful window into the 2009 California vintage.

Check it out:
Siduri website
2009 Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands on CellarTracker
2009 Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands on Wine-Searcher.com

I have more 2009 California Pinot Noir recommendations coming up, and a deeper analysis of the 2009 vintage. I'd love it if you subscribed to the site so we can keep in touch.

Question of the Day: What are your impressions of 2009 California Pinot Noir? Which producers are you buying from?


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/RdgHORQkJLM/2009-california-pinot-noir-best-vintage.html

Scarlett Johansson Selita Ebanks Shakara Ledard Shakira

Help Steer the Direction of an Award Winner!

Generally speaking, I do very little public housekeeping here, but it’s time for some remodeling and I want your feedback. 

Despite winning some awards and receiving significant positive feedback about the design of this site, I haven’t materially changed the look or the function of Good Grape since November 2006.  Times have changed a lot in the intervening (nearly) five years.  At the time, Wordpress was a very secondary blogging platform choice behind MovableType (I chose door #3).  Facebook had recently announced general availability to the public from its former days of being collegiately oriented; Twitter launched, but was barely a blip on the radar, YouTube was hot (but not ubiquitous) and smartphones were still very niche in general adoption.  Tablets like the iPad?  Nope, at that point people were stoked about rumors of an iPhone that was set to be released sometime the next year. 

A lot has changed in five years and this site has barely kept pace, making due with duct tape and spittle.

image

A number of regular readers have let me know that pieces and parts of the site don’t always work, or the site is slow for them, or it’s hard to comment, or archive pages are junky looking, or links take you away from the site, etc.  And, forget about reading this site on your mobile phone – Good Grape equal’s bad mobile mojo.  The list goes on and on and I have my own list of wishes and want-to’s 35 items deep.

So, here’s the question and the crossroads I’m facing:

Do I keep the same general design (with some slight modifications like making the main text area wider and re-doing the navigation) and simply leave a classic design alone, focusing on enhancing functional and technical aspects of the site?

Or,

Do I take this opportunity to blow it out and set the bar for what a quality, beautiful, professional wine blog should look like, plus all of the social and mobile bells and whistles?

Readers, friends, colleagues, and peers: Your feedback is very welcome.  Should I mess with a good thing for a potentially greater thing, or do stay true to the visual identity in place and simply remodel focusing on functionality, familiarity and usability?

Please leave a comment.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/help_steer_the_direction_of_an_award_winner/

Katherine Heigl Katie Cassidy Katie Holmes Katy Perry

May is Bocce Month in Wine Country

This is an unofficial declaration that May is Bocce Month in Wine Country. Why choose May as Bocce month? May is the ideal month to plan an outdoor activity in wine country like Bocce. The weather is at its best for a little physical activity. Continue reading

Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/may-is-bocce-month-in-wine-country/

Padma Lakshmi Paige Butcher Pamela Anderson Paris Hilton