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California Grows Classy Pinot Noirs, One of the Most Versatile Food Wines

WALL STREET JOURNAL- January 19, 2001

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(continued) So, back to the Pinots. We found that good Pinot Noir is being produced in a variety of styles and prices, and that they are, in general, very well made. some of the less-expensive ones, while not among our favorites, were quite good. Look for Fetzer and Estancia, for about $16.00, and Beringer, for about $11.00. These tend to be light and fruity. On the other end of the spectrum, we had a Coturri that tasted more like Port than Pinot. We could feel our socks roll up and down as we tasted it. Coturri is always a name to look for if you're a little bit of a risk-taker looking for a unique experience.

Two of our favorites, including the best of tasting, were again from Saintsbury. another was a surprise: It was soft, approachable and classy, with an elegant, creamy and fruit-filled finish that we can still taste. This turned out to be Clos du Bois 1999 for just $16.99--a very good buy.

One of the wines blew us away before we even tasted it. When we poured the wine, it was so dark it was almost inky. We didn't have to smell it--the bouquet rose to us, a massive, fruity, deep-black, rich smell that made us feel we'd already tasted the wine. When we did taste this Pinot Noir, it was glorious--intense and rich in fruit, yet concentrated. It was a massive, "wow" wine, a rare Delicious! on our scale and one of the best Pinot Noirs we've had.

Because we had bought a handful of wines over $25.00 before we lowered our cutoff, we decided we'd throw them into the blind tasting as ringers. This turned out to be one of them, from a reliable small producer named Daniel Gehrs ("Lake Marie", Santa Barbara County 1998.) It was $30.59.

Wine Editors-Wall Street Journal

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher

Visit: http://wine.wsj.com

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