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Cono Sur Pinot Noir 2006

I didn't try this wine for a good while because the name rubbed me the wrong way; it's just too clever. Cono Sur = Southern Cone? But the price tag finally got to me. That lured me as did the curiosity of trying a Chilean Pinot Noir. It didn't hurt that Vineyard Brands imports the wine, because I've come to trust their palate.

The result: I'm on my fourth bottle and for my money Cono Sur Pinot Noir 2006 beats the other $10-$11 Pinots out there that currently rule the low end bins. You know who you are. I'm a big Salmon eater and this one works great with my bear like eating habits.

But I still don't like the name and the Cono Sur website is too clever for my tastes as well.

Outstanding value ($11). Closure: Screw cap. Alcohol content: 14%.

Style: Light, tart, red fruit forward, with a touch of smoke.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Bright cranberry translucent. Aromas: Redcurrant, cranberry, plum, strawberry. Light bodied on the tongue, the sour cherry flavor mingles with light spicy smoky notes and the finish is elegant, gay, dry, not overpowering but rather uplifting.

Comment: Mrs. Slocombe said "Ignore the shoes". I say "ignore the marketing".

Chalone Monterey County Pinot Noir 2005

Complex enough to hold your interest for a few bottles, everything about this Chalone offering is on target, the flavor, texture and under-$15 price.

Winemaker Dan Karlsen reports Monterey County Pinot Noir 2005 has a small amount of Petite Sirah included for aded weight. Cases produced: 70,000.

Excellent value ($14). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13.9%

Style: Red fruit and exotic spice, light and smooth.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Bright garnet, translucent. Aromas: Strawberry, red currant, leather, hints of clove and nutmeg. The mouthfeel is soft, velvety smooth and lightly tart. Red currant and clove flavors lead to a dry finish that liberates a hint of oak.

Wallace Brook Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2005

Oregon Pinot Noir from top producers, the sort that hits all my flavor and texture "hot buttons", is usually a bit out of my everyday price range. It may be worth the price paid, but it usually takes on "special occasion only" status.

One way to keep to a wine budget is to find "second labels" from top producers. Wineries more often sell the extra wine that doesn't match their stylistic or business requirements, but sometimes they bottle it under a second label.

Like in Burgundy, in Oregon lots of "unmatched" Pinot Noir finds its way into "negociant" labels. Perhaps it is just the temperamental nature of the grape. Fortunately Adelsheim Vineyards offers up some of their extra wine under the Wallace Brook Cellars label. Wallace Brook Pinot Noir is sourced from vineyards in the northern Willamette Valley and aged in French oak barrels (up to 1/4 new).

Unfortunately the quantity is limited and varies from year to year, with less than 1,400 cases produced of the 2004 vintage. Wallace Brook shows up on a lot of restaurant wine lists.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Bright ruby, translucent. Aromas: Intense cherry, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate and hints of earth. Light bodied and tart with fine tannins, the juicy red fruit flavors combine with citrus and light buttery oak spice and mineral notes, leading to a vibrant dry finish.

Excellent value ($16).  Closure: Neocork.  Alcohol content: 13%.

Food pairing: By itself, or if it doesn't disappear first, with pan-seared salmon.

Eugene Wine Cellars b2 Oregon Pinot Noir 2004

Starting with the 2004 vintage, b2 (b-squared) is a new label of Eugene Wine Cellars and the acronym refers to founder and Vineyard Manager Bruce Biehl, his brother Winemaker Brad Biehl and a host of other "2-b" word sequences. The b-squared idea surfaced because Bruce had been signing his name b-superscript-2 for years, and the winery needed a label with more National appeal than the previous label which featured an image of local landmark Spencer's Butte.

The wine behind the label is a textbook example of a berry-and-earth Oregon Pinot Noir. The Biehls have lots to work with taking into account Bruce's more than 20 years experience with his own vineyard management company and Brad's winemaking background which notably includes a UC-Davis degree and 20+ years experience including helping to build Oregon's acclaimed King Estate in the 1990s. Together the Biehls have both access to great local grapes and the ability to turn them into great wine.

Since 2000, the 2 brothers have been building Eugene Wine Cellars - not along the oh-so-popular wine route which runs from Corvalis to Newberg - but in downtown Eugene Oregon. Their adaptive reuse of the former "Food For Lane County" building brings local customers in for wine, food and music, while it serves as a production facility and tasting room for their Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and other wines. People from all over the world visit the winery creating a nice mix of local and global patrons.

Grapes for b2 Oregon Pinot Noir 2004 were sourced from 6 vineyards in four counties within the Willamette Valley: Pendarvine, Dion, Dylan's Run, Dunning, Elhanan and Johnson/Enyeart. Lots were fermented and aged separately. According to Associate Winemaker Greg Sothras, the lots were aged an average of 16 months in a mixture of 1/4 new oak and 3/4 "neutral" barrels of various ages (most from King Estate, some from Benton Lane and other sources) and thereafter blended and bottled. Only 1555 cases were produced.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Bright red garnet, translucent. Aromas: Bright red berry fruits, freshly tilled earth, clove/spice and slightly smoky vanilla. Medium-bodied, nicely tart, warm and dry on the tongue, the flavors range from red fruit preserves to pepper and baking spice and the finish is generous and dusty dry.

Excellent value ($18). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13%

Food pairing: Pan-seared salmon.

Eugene Wine Cellars also serves as a custom crush facility and has been making Pinot Noir for Iris Hill, whose 2005 Pinot Noir Winewaves recently reviewed.

Eugene Wine Cellars is expanding with the purchase of more stainless steel tanks and is co-producing a semi-sweet Riesling with veteran Doyle Hinman, former founder of Hinman Vineyards which is now Silvan Ridge. The label, "H5", will start with about 1,700 cases this spring and grow to 7,000 over the next couple of years, sourcing nicely acidic fruit from Washington State. Eugene Wine Cellars is also putting in a bottling line and intends to stay with corks for Pinot Noir.

Iris Hill Oregon Pinot Noir 2005

Hug a tree, get on a bike, take time for the arts, and have a glass of alternative Pinot Noir. With the attention focused on Oregon Pinot Noir labels an hour north, some very good things are happening under the radar around the Emerald City, Oregon's hip college town located at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers.

Eugene is halfway between the state borders north and south and there is a growing winegrowing industry visible alongside the decline of logging. Home to the University of Oregon and the birthplace of Nike, word has it a lot of "aging hippies" find refuge here.

Iris Hill Winery was founded by Pamela Frye and Richard Boyles when they returned to their stomping grounds after a world business tour of duty to start a family, plant a wine estate and indulge their dream of making wine. The first vintage for their Iris Hill label was 2001.

Their Chalice Vineyard located 18 miles southwest of Eugene is the source for all their wines at present, with only 44 acres of vines producing out of 870. The majority of the property is in forest, Christmas tree plots and grazed. The vines are planted facing South in terra cotta clay loam soil.

Frye and Boyles are organic grape growers and they practice sustainable viticulture. Last year they began using biodiesel blended fuel for their farm equipment. Like many Oregon growers, they participate in the LIVE (low input viticulture and enology) program and they are obtaining Salmon-Safe certification.

Iris Hill Pinot Noir 2005 is the product of low-yielding estate vines, aged an average of 9 months in French oak barrels, 1/5 new. The wine is custom crushed in Eugene. Production is in the neighborhood of 3000 cases annually.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Deep cherry red with bright edges, almost transparent. Aromas: Bright cherry, strawberry, toffee, and background notes of minerally earth, cold blossoms and black olives. Light-to-medium bodied and sweet-tart on the tongue, the bright red cherry-berry, light spice, citrus and sage flavors are lively in the soft smooth finish. The empty glass smells great.

Excellent value ($17).  Closure: Real cork.  Alcohol content: 12.5%.

Food pairing: Roast chicken with herbs.

Van Duzer Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Noir 2004

The sunset in late January near Dallas Oregon is bold, beautiful and richly textured as it seems to last forever going down over the Coast Ranges. The vineyards in this "Van Duzer Corridor" are spread out far and wide. When the Pinot Noir vines awaken, they benefit from more than their fair share of the sun and the gentle cool west wind, and wines which capture the beauty of this sunset are made from the fruit they bear.

Zephyra is the name of the beautiful lady who graces the label and she represents the west wind of Greek mythology, Zephyr.

The Van Duzer family winery, is owned by Carl and Marilynn Thoma, and practices sustainable farming on their 77-acre estate 3 miles off Highway 99W. This is the Thoma's long-term vision and they continue to invest in it with the best people, techniques and equipment available. A new winery building was opened to the public last year, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Winemaker Jim Kakacek reports Estate Pinot Noir 2004 is 100% varietal, hand harvested, cold-fermented, and aged 10 months in French oak barrels, approximately 1/3 new, 1/3 one-year-old and 1/3 neutral. Kakacek has overseen winemaking at Van Duzer for the past 12 years.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Deep cranberry garnet with a purple haze, semi-opaque. Aromas: Luscious pungent pomegranate, cassis and black cherry, fine sweet spice and faint hints of earth. Gorgeous rich smooth texture is the real story here, possessing a nearly full body for a Pinot and enough backbone to carry it well. Rich dark red fruit and spice flavors reverberate alongside supporting notes of oak in the double encore of a finish.

Excellent value ($26). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13.5%.

Food pairing: Salmon, pan-seared and then poached atop red onion in white wine and butter.

Girasole Vineyards Mendocino Pinot Noir 2005

Now would be a good time to get in touch with your inner "flower child". This is the Pinot that might help you do it without a costly therapist.

Girasole (pronounced "jeer-ah-so-lay") translates to "turning into the sun" and thus is symbolized by the sunflower. The honeybee and sunflower together telegraph the organic feeling you will experience when you take in the wine.

Proprietor Charlie Barra has been treading lightly on his Redwood Valley Ranch for about a half a century, and his wines are made with minimal human intervention. Charlie grows grapes organically, meaning without conventional pesticides or herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, or bioengineered products, and Charlie has always planted cover crops between rows. A portion of the Barra ranch is devoted to natural habitat and irrigation is sourced naturally from runoff.

In the winemaking process, less than 99 ppm of sulfite is added for preservation, special organically-approved yeasts are used and egg whites are not used for fining.

Girasole Pinot Noir 2005 is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from 45-year-old vines (when was the last time you heard "old-vine Pinot" being mentioned?), fermented in stainless steel, and seasoned lightly with oak chips. Cases produced: 3,500.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Bright raspberry garnet with a very slight haze. Aromas: Raspberry and sweet cherry, with hints of cocoa, toffee and sweet pie spice. Light and lively on the tongue, the tannins are well integrated and the flavors range from predominate black cherry to nuances of tangy chocolate, citrus peel and tea. The finish is smooth warm and dry.

Outstanding value ($12).  Closure: Real cork.  Alcohol content: 13.5%.

Aquinas Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2005

Aquinas Napa Valley is named for Patron Saint Thomas Aquinas. Fitting, considering the wine inside delivers truth and divinity, reason and revelation, refinement and expression, all at a vow-of-poverty price. And it's available to the masses.

Richard Bruno (also of Vinum Cellars acclaim) directs the winemaking efforts at Don & Sons with lots of help from hands-on winemaker Greg Kitchens. Both are "foodies" as well as winemakers and they are masters at getting the end product seasoned and spiced right. The Sebastiani family's superb fruit sourcing relationships ensure the winemaking team has plenty to work with.

Aquinas Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2005 is 86% Napa in origin, with some Monterey and Clarksburg lots blended in. Production: 17,000 cases.

Tasting Notes: Appearance: Cherry red with bright edges, transparent. Aromas: Sour cherry, pomegranate and strawberry fruit framed by lightly smoky oak seasoning and earthy nuances. Well-structured, a middleweight Pinot that's tart and possessing fine tannins, the ripe cherry red berry flavors combine with citrus rind and a bit of sweet spice before finishing very dusty dry like its valley of origin.

Outstanding value ($10).  Closure: Neocork.  Alcohol content: 13.5%.

Also tasted, same label (not photographed): Aquinas Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 is another stylish winner for the price, deep garnet in color with blackberry, mocha, coffee, and ripe olive aromas. Medium-bodied with substantial firm tannins, the blackberry, cherry and cedar flavors combine with a light herbaceous quality and finish with nice grip and dust. At the Sonoma Market sale price of $8, I got a whole bottle at a per glass price. (Neocork, 13.5% alcohol).

Winewaves recently reviewed Vinum Cellars CNW Clarksburg Chenin Blanc 2005.

Sonoma County Carneros Rainbow

Yesterday evening (January 26th) after completing some business totally unrelated to wine in sunny Sacramento, I decided to make my way to San Francisco via Sonoma.

My intention was to pick up a few items at Sonoma Market before settling into the Holiday Inn where the food and wine choices are, let's face it, scant. My layover in San Francisco was to attend the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) annual trade tasting on January 27th.

There was just a little break in the clouds right as the sun was low in the sky, and suddenly in front of Nicholson Ranch's Visitor Center a big rainbow appeared. My Taurus rental car veered into the parking lot and I was forced to snap off a few pictures. Apparently this phenomenon is common in Carneros, but my being in Carneros is not. And this year January has been dry.

Nicholson is a Pinot Noir producer, and the tasting room was busy at the time of the rainbow, although it seems I was the only one impressed by it. That wine must be pretty good.

Poppy Monterey County Pinot Noir 2005

Poppy Pinot Noir might appear to be a case of a wine company responding to the post-Sideways market with near-perfect execution.  That would be hindsight though, because 2005 is Poppy’s third vintage.  The first vintage was just coming to market when Sideways was released in the fall of 2004.

Winemaker, music aficionado and sometimes surfer Eric Laumann calls the move to launch Poppy “somewhat serendipitous”.  He also credits his maturity (more than 20 years in the business) for “seeing what’s not out there”.

In 2003 Laumann became Head Winemaker for the newly formed Monterey Wine Company, a custom crush and winemaking operation in King City.  Aware of truckloads of primo Pinot Noir grapes which were heading north, and although the market wasn’t screaming for $10-12 Central Coast Pinots, Laumann could see what was missing.  His partner, grower and Company President Steve McIntyre agreed and Poppy was born.  What timing!

Laumann says they chose the name Poppy because of its association with California. “Because we grow grapes in all the best areas of California we can make a fine blend from the best of the regions.  Our wine speaks to the quality and value of California Pinot Noir.  Currently we are finding the best value, quality grapes in the Santa Lucia, Arroyo Seco and Santa Barbara appellations.”

When Eric isn’t working on Poppy (there is also a crisply styled Central Coast Chardonnay) he is busy making wine for others and another of his visionary projects, Cambiata* Winery.  Started in 2002 with the planting of 4 acres on leased vineyard property in Monterey, Cambiata is focused on two grapes seldom seen in California, Albariño and Tannat.  Albariño is well known in Rias Baixas in northwestern Spain where it is traditionally paired with local seafood.  Albariño makes for a true alternative white with crisp acidity and a unique opulence.  Laumann says Tannat is known as the “confidential grape”, and is traditionally “passed between friends” in the Basque region in France.  Tannat translates literally to “tannic”, and it is monumentally so, to the point of being outright difficult to tame.  “It is inky black, rich and non-responsive to normal cellar techniques, but we have found ways to tame it” says Laumann.

Poppy Monterey County Pinot Noir 2005 also contains fruit from Santa Barbara County and a smidgen from Russian River Valley.  The oak influence is minimal, imparted through use of oak staves in tanks for an equivalent average of about 5 months, about 15% new.  Cases produced: 7,000.

Appearance: Bright red ruby translucent. Aromas: Raspberry and plum with whiffs of pie spice and gravelly earth.  On the tongue, this is a light-middleweight Pinot, and is nicely tart with fine young tannins.  On the palate, cherry, pomegranate and plum flavors combine with light clove, tea and citrus rind accents that echo nicely in the dry finish.

Outstanding value ($10). Closure: Neocork. Alcohol content: 13.8%.

*Cambiata is a musical idiom popular in today’s music which was first popularized against the wishes of the church in the 16th century.  “Cambiata Nota” literally translates to “changed note”, but the concept really embodies in Eric Laumann’s words, “the added tonal dimension that occurs when two chords momentarily share properties, so that the transition has greater depth and mellifluence.”  Laumann’s goal is “divine proportion”.  He goes on to say “in modern times, no one embodied the Cambiata spirit as much as Hendrix - what if six were nine”.