The Wine Thread

[TheRiddick]

Wow, spend a day away from the web and what do you see?

One thing at a time.

Lance,

I hate to say it, but if your "standard" for Pinot is David Bruce, I really need you to try a TON of REALLY GOOD Pinot, David Bruce is average at best, IMO.

Cab has never gone away, I think it will be the last grape to do so. Still popular and still pretty much a standard bearer for the most part since only a small percentage of consumers drink Pinot. Same as for David Bruce and Pinot, I'd say one can also state that Burrell School and Cab are not a combo wine geeks ever think about in the same sentence. Cab and Pride, Cab and Schrader, Cab and Maybach, Cab and a ton of other great producers in Napa proper (Paradigm, Etude, Whitehall Lane, etc, etc, etc).

Looks like I need to introduce you to some Pinot and Cab :-)
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David (MrReinder),

You are the first person I have ever seen refer to Petite Sirah as light. As a matter of fact it is pretty much bigger than any other varietal out there, makes Cabs look like mid bodied wine. When done right, PS is pitch black in the glass with no light coming through and it is pretty dense to boot.

Come to think of it, Syrah is next biggest if done that way. Bigger than Cab. Can and should be almost black in color. Have you tried Syrah from Carlisle, Siduri, Sine Qua Non, Alban? They will change your mind and most likely spoil you forever.
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Sideways, the movie.

Funny how consumers treat the movie as something special, Pinot wine makers hated it and still do for a number of reasons.

But the key point of the entire script/movie and a very BIG PUNCHLINE to underscore how stupid this "I hate f**ing Merlot" thing was went absolutely unnoticed by what, 99% of the viewers? After all that 2 hour anti-Merlot theme that Miles lives by, what is his most prized possession? Yep. A bottle of Cheval Blanc, a nice wine in its own right. But wait, how many people know that it is roughly one half MERLOT? An $1200+ bottle consumed alone, out of a paper cup with a Big Mac in tow.
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Moses,

Pinot when done right will be difficult to ID, been there done that. Burgundy lately is at pretty similar level of ripeness and extraction as is done here in CA. My tasting group did a tasting of the much ballyhooed 2005 vintage, about 6 weeks ago, some good names and regions/vineyards and yet, I would not spend a penny on any of the wines (we had about a dozen). I snuck in one of my own wines as a ringer, made from Monterey fruit that was barely ripe when picked, acidic and all, and this wine tasted super ripe in its flight (all double blind, of course). Burgs drank like acid extractions with no fruit, no flavor (unless one considers acidity a flavor and maybe some one dimensional cherry note) and too much oak, that is too much oak for the little fruit the wines had. Some had brett, not a surprise, of course.

I know you will tell me that the best stuff is expensive, and I also said that before, but until that day when I can afford to spend a $2000+ on a bottle of Pinot, some of the best CA Pinot in the $50-60 per bottle range will do just fine. Its an age old and tired by now argument, but all I can say is that outside of CA, and even here, most people really do not get to taste the best CA produces since the wines are made in small batches and go either to direct to mailing list or some key accounts.

Have you had any Rivers-Marie? Marcassin? August West? Sandler? Sea Smoke? Roessler? Older Dehlinger and Rochioli? All in the $30-80 range.