Pinot Noir – Alta Maria Vineyards – 2008 – Santa Maria, CA

I have skipped a bottle or two on the blog since the last posting, it’s sometimes tough to get to in the hustle and bustle of it all, but I saw @GaryVee floored by the $24 bottle of Pinot Noir on www.WineLibrary.tv so I picked of 4 bottles and figured I would see what all the fuss is about.

Gary was impressed by the silkiness of it and I recall his review seemed to have weird impressions on the nose, but once he tasted it he was flabbergasted and didn’t even spit it out.  Let’s see what I think.

It’s a bit light and toward purple for a Pinot, not so ruby in color.  Smell is classic nice Pinot.  I smell like farm land, grass and hay, but that may be my shirt since I went to the dog park twice today.  The nose is really nice.  It reminds me of the wines I tasted when I first taste wine and Pinot on my Grateful Dead trip to Eugene, OR in June 1990.

Okay time to taste.  Gary is right, this thing is like velvet on your tongue, super smooth.  Not dry and over loaded with tannins or oak either.  The fruit really comes out.  You taste cherries.  For such a young wine, the alcohol level seems mild.  It doesn’t say what percentage it is on the bottle.  I think we hit the jackpot on this wine and it is one I should buy a case for down the road.  This is a bargain.

Pinot Noir – Andrew Rich – 2006 – Willamette Valley, OR

After a long day at a successful agility trial, I combined some leftovers into a pasta that I could drink with a bottle of wine.  While cooking Kathy asked me which bottle to open up and I said anything that was a Pinot Noir.  She found this 2006 Andrew Rich from Oregon which is new to me and a I have a few bottles so the choice seemed exciting.  The leftovers I was going to drink the wine with were penne pasta, gazpacho, shrimp, garlic and some slices Calandra bread.  The bread I turned into garlic and the gazpacho I turned into a garlic red sauce with shrimp.  It worked well and was quick.

As usual, I didn’t give the wine adequate time to breath, the food was ready and hot so I didn’t pay attention to the wine that it deserves in deference to the hot dish I prepared.  Nevertheless, the sniffy-sniff I gave it revealed lots of alcohol, which is usually a good sign as it was with this bottle.   Upon tasting it, the wine revealed a fruity, over the top thick wine, not the vapor base I was expecting.  On the front of the tongue is a pleasing Adam’s sour cherry flavor, one of my favorites.  The finish is long an strong and has very little evidence of oak in its nose or palate.  For $20, this is an excellent wine.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape – Patrick Lesec Bargeton – 2006 – France

Wow, I haven’t posted a wine tasting for over o month now.  Not that I haven’t been drinking but I have gotten a little lazy and I have been drinking a few repeats so I haven’t been posting.  To go along with this pattern, this posting will be brief since I am writing the morning after kicking a bottle with Kathy.

This was my first Chateauneuf-du-Pape (CDP) and I had no idea what to expect.  I have gotten a few CDP as part of Cinderella 3-packs from the wine library, so it is good how those 3-packs open me up to wines that I have never tried.  This being one of them.

At $90 for the 3-pack of wine, I am counting this wine to cost me $30 but it may be worth more than that, so I was expecting at least a good wine.  When I poured it, it was a dark rich purple that was opaque for the most part.  The nose was filled with dark berry flavors. When tasting it it was a thicker viscous wine and not so hot considering it was rated at 15% alcohol.  As a matter of fact after the wine passes over the parts of the tongue and heads toward the throat I was preparing for the burst of heat.  I never got it though, it well balanced tannins on the back end dried up any remaining alcohol vapors and wrapping this effort into a well balanced wine who strong tannins positively counteract and seal up this wine.  You can tell, this is a very well made wine with all of its attributes in check.  Lots of strong cherry, berry flavors on the sides of the tongue make it exciting and a very good wine.  I have a few more CDPs from Lesec and they may be the same so now I look forward to and am a fan of CDP.

Primitivo – Duca Petraccone Salento – Italy – 2006

I never had this varietal, Primitivo before or even heard of it. Scott my drummer from Deadstein gave me a bottle and told me to let it breath for a while. I decanted it for 2 hours and then we drank it with our dinner and appetizers at home on my birthday eve. We have off tomorrow so finishing the bottle tonight should be no problem.

It’s a translucent purple, a bolder appearing wine than a Pinot yet not as big looking as a Cab. On the nose you get Welch’s grape jelly mixed with pepper. Kathy picked up the strong pepper component.  At a low 13% alcohol I wasn’t expecting heat and I didn’t get any.  I guess the decanting helped because this was a smooth wine.

Expecting a fruity wine from the nose I was delightfully surprised when the wine turned out to be well balanced easy going wine. Not close to over-bearing just smooth from start to finish. It is well made and balanced in its presentation with strong mid palates and a long finish. It is also earthy in it’s contrast to its subtle fruit approach. A very nice wine and thanks to Scott to opening me up to this varietal and wine.

Syrah – Sarah’s Vineyard – Santa Clara Valley, CA

I’m drinking this wine a couple of days after picking up this wine as part of a $100 4-pack from CinderellaWine.com.  I therefore price it at $25/bottle but it is likely not available at a price anywhere near it.  I give this preamble cause I think I am totally inexperienced in Syrah and don’t know what to expect, but I expect a lot.

In color it is a dark ruby, opaque except around the fringes. I let it decant for about 2 hours before sniffing it but I have been smelling it from the glass as I prepared this page and I can tell it isn’t going to be a shy wine.  At 15.2% alcohol I’m expecting something big that can stand up to that high alcohol content.  I’m also expecting a lot of heat.  I also go a hunk of Brie in case I need something to cut the seriousness of a big wine.  Let’s see, smell,taste and then slee.

Smell: First smell is alcohol and grape jelly.  Also some earthiness and dirtiness, a little scary.  Let’s go for a taste, something tells me I’m not getting through this wine tonight, cheese or no cheese.

On the palate and after tasting a the fear dissipates.  There is a tasty explosion all over the tongue starting at the front with grape and ending on the rear with wild cherry.  Well blended well made.  The high alcohol is tamer than expected and kind of dries out the wine the way a hirer tannin wine with more oak would do.  Interesting in that respect.  There is one thing I’ve been noticing about the high alcohol as I drink it, I’m getting drunk!  This wine’s gonna be tasting real good real soon.