2018 Etude Pinot Noir Grace Benoist Ranch, USA, California, Carneros, Wine Review

This is a really nice Pinot Noir from Carneros. Ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose is nice. Earthy with cherries and slight sandalwood. Medium bodied. Light tannins. Good acidity. On the palate, cherries with slight sour cherries over char and earthiness. Long finish with a touch of menthol. Some depth and complexity that will increase with cellar time. This drinks well now and should continue to for the next ten to twelve years. Very nice on it own, this will work well with roasted duck or chicken.

Grade:

Score:

Vintage:

2018

Current Price:

$47.00USD

Top California Pinot Noir: Which California Wine Producers Make the Best Pinot Noir?

California has actually been making outstanding wines from the Pinot Noir grape for a long time. Sure, not long in the Burgundian sense but going back at least to the middle of the last century there were good bottles of Pinot Noir being produced in California. Not many to be sure, but there were some. Starting slowly, in the 1990’s, and then exploding when the movie Sideways came out, there are now more and more offerings of good to excellent Pinot Noir being produced in California.

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Sonoma's Must Try Pinot Noirs - 2015 Best of Sonoma

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. Sonoma offers a wide range of pinot noir options—but some are simply too outstanding to miss. To help develop a list of the top of the top, we asked over a hundred of the top vintners in Sonoma for their own personal choice for the top Pinot Noir under $100 in the area, and the list is to die for.

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Wines to Go Buy This Week: Sonoma Pinot Noir by La Follette, MacPhail, and Freeman

Since I wrote last week about how much I (used to) hate chardonnay , this week I am turning attention to the varietal I love: pinot noir. Friends and acquaintances frequently ask me for my favorite wine producers -and the list is long- so I am going to focus this week on my favorite Sonoma pinot noir producers. There are numerous producers of fantastic pinot in Sonoma so I'm sure I will get plenty of emails from people wondering how I could leave out so and so or who are incredulous that my recommendations exclude "less expensive" options. So let me respond in advance: The threshold for inclusion on this list is that the wine must be in regular rotation in my house and be the "go to" bottle of Sonoma Pinot Noir to serve to guests or to uncork to celebrate small victories (a concept I enthusiastically embrace..... life is too short not to celebrate good days with a fantastic bottle of wine. Who wants to die with a huge collection of great wine aging in the basement?). Must a good Sonoma pinot noir cost $40+? Of course not, though so often they do. With that said, the three wines to go buy this week are:

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2018 Robert Mondavi Winery Pinot Noir, USA, California, Napa, Carneros, Wine Review

Vintage:

2018

Score:

Grade:

A-

Current Price:

$20.00USD

One typically doesn't think of Pinot Noir and Napa, but the district of Carneros spans into both Napa and Sonoma and is the home of many excellent Pinot Noirs. This is a very pretty, elegantly styled Pinot. Ruby in color, clear and bright and a touch lighter. The nose is nice with bright cherries, macerated cherries, sandalwood and a touch of chervil. Medium bodied. On the palate, this has cherries and cherry cough drop notes with a touch of anise. Light tannins. Very smooth and easy to sip. Nice finish. This drinks great on its own and would work well with salmon or roasted fowl.

2016 Lyric by Etude Pinot Noir, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review

Vintage:

2016

Score:

Grade:

B+

Current Price:

$16.00USD

This is a very nice value wine from the Etude Winery. It retails for about $20 (less in some places) and it very good. Light to medium ruby in color. The nose has black cherries with slight saline notes. On the palate, this has juicy cherry fruit. A slight salinity carries thru. Nice finish. It can be easy to dismiss a wine at this price range, but consumed blind among 10 Santa Barbara Pinots, this finished in the middle of the pack. It probably should be consumed over the next three to five years. Nice on its own, it would be a nice match with grilled salmon.

2018 Etude Pinot Noir Grace Benoist Ranch, USA, California, Carneros, Wine Review

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Top California Pinot Noir: Which California Wine Producers Make the Best Pinot Noir?

Sonoma's Must Try Pinot Noirs - 2015 Best of Sonoma

Wines to Go Buy This Week: Sonoma Pinot Noir by La Follette, MacPhail, and Freeman

2018 Robert Mondavi Winery Pinot Noir, USA, California, Napa, Carneros, Wine Review

2016 Lyric by Etude Pinot Noir, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review