2002 Walter Hansel South Slope Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, California

Several weeks ago we reviewed the 2002 Walter Hansel Pinot Noir and while I ended up really enjoying it, Cat did not. I knew that this winery also offered a few single vineyard Pinot Noirs and this is the first we have been able to try.

After sitting decanted for about an hour we glass tasted and found the wine immediately approachable. The nose had nice, round fruit of berries... primarily sweeter blueberry and a little blackberry. There is also a really nice fragrant floral component to the nose that we notice in some California Pinot Noirs. The floral scents are balanced by a little smoke and just a bit of alcohol. The palate is round and puts the fruit right out there with more berry, some cherry but not as deeply sweet as the nose. There is some wet soil flavors (like wet soil smells...) and a little peppery spice in there with really, really subtle cedar on the finish. This wine is lighter, totally Burgundian in style and remarkably complex. As we drank this Pinot Noir over the next hour or so it continued to open and soften, being incredibly well balanced and elegant. This was a terrific bottle of wine.

cost - $37.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 9

this wine is available at Raeder's Wines online

2005 La Crema Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California

This wine immediately strikes me as a classic Californian Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily a good thing. I say that because I find that Californian style of Pinot to be very light and thin with a medicinal quality to the palate. Contrast that to the depth and richness of those Californian Pinot's that go their own way, and you cleave the lovers of these wines. Consider me in the camp of the Burgundian style, no surprise there, and in California I look for the wines of Walter Hansel, Jed Steele or Kent Rasmussen. Not so much Burgundian, these wines, as Californian meets Burgundy. Either way, they contrast well against the style of the La Crema tasted here.

Which is odd, really. La Crema's reputation is pretty solid, and they are known to make incredible, intense and delicious Chardonnay's. That's a long way of saying that I don't know that I would judge the winery by our tasting of this Pinot Noir. There are two reasons for that:

1. It is a 2005 and will likely deepen and become more complex with age.

2. This wine is entry level, and there are several beyond this that may get to where I want to go. I am going to seek those out and taste in comparison to this one in the coming weeks.

Melissa Stackhouse is the winemaker over at La Crema and she has been working to put her stamp on the house winemaking style. That is probably good, as Melissa is known to favor a Burgundian style of Pinot Noir. Actually, that would be a third reason why I will check out more wines from La Crema crafted by Melissa Stackhouse. For whatever reason, this Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir just didn't get there.

We decanted for a bit and poured to smell. The nose was a bit hot with alcohol, and had cassis and jammy fruit blended with that medicine quality I mentioned earlier. The nose is not bad, just not what we go for, and to my mind is simple and without depth. There is a sandy quality to both the nose and the palate which makes me feel like the grapes were grown in really arid, sun drenched vineyards... which they were not.

The palate is simple and restrained. I would say light with little complexity. The fruit is more strawberry, but it dissipates quickly leaving an aftertaste that is like, well... it's like medicine. There is an earthy component to the palate that we like, but it is not in balance with the rest of the wine. The finish is fairly short and dry.

Lately, we've been looking for some value wines to flesh out the lower end of our cellar. Wines that we can enjoy whenever we want without feeling like we are robbing our daughter's inheritance. Just kidding. But seriously, we are looking for good value wines that we can keep and drink over the next year or so while we stock up on more long-term keepers. This wine is not either of those, obviously, but as I said we will continue to check out La Crema and let you know what we taste.

cost - $21.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 7

2004 Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel, Sonoma County, California

You deserve better photography, and perhaps we should take the label shots before we drink the wine. Please be patient with us.

A couple weeks ago we tried the Ridge Syrah, a limited production wine from a winery that is highly respected for its Zinfandels. That Syrah rocked our world, and winecommando gave it a solid 10 rating. I am going to buy a case of it for the small basement room that we call the "cellar."

It's the Zinfandels, though, that everyone talks about from Ridge. I've had several from them including the Lytton Springs, Geyserville and Pagani Ranch. They are all consistently excellent. We had not tried the Three Valleys Zinfandel, though, and were excited to give it a taste.

The name "Three Valleys" for this wine is to signify that it is blended from multiple vineyards. The wine itself is a mix of 68% Zinfandel, 11% Carignane, 10% Syrah, 7% Petite Sirah, and 4% Grenache. You can bet that a tremendous amount of effort and tasting went into figuring that blend out. The grapes that Ridge chooses for this wine are from the more accessible of the lots from their single vineyards. This wine is made from grapes grown in the vineyards of Lytton Springs, Dry Creek, Geyserville, Mazzoni, Stone Valley Ranch, and Pagani Ranch. It was fermented in classic Ridge style, meaning with the natural yeasts and minimal intervention.

We opened and decanted the wine without tasting right away. It's a Zin, I figured we shouldn't rush it. After about 30 minutes we poured a couple glasses. The first thing that struck us was the color. Deep, dark red. So dark that it is almost black towards the center of the glass. The nose was full of grape jelly, a tinge of sharper raspberry, and a scent I can only classify as wet hay or wet grass. The nose was wonderful. I also picked up a little black pepper. We had read a review of this wine earlier and it said something about "briar" in the nose. I have no idea what briar smells like and can't tell you that we picked that one up. What the hell does briar smell like? I want to know.

The palate was exactly what we thought it would be, given the nose. It was concentrated and rich, though the wine was surprisingly medium bodied. You think Zinfandel and you conclude, typically, big and heavy bodied wines. Not so here. Dare I say, this Zinfandel is ELEGANT? Must be the blend. Anyway, the palate had round jammy strawberry and chocolate, if you smoke cigars you might recognize just the slightest tobacco type taste. I don't really smoke cigars, but we have these friends who always foist them on me when we get together and I tend to oblige, much to Cat's chagrin.

The finish on this wine is long, and overall it was especially pleasing. It is not incredibly sophisticated, nor is it exceptional. It is solid and for the price delivers an excellent experience. It would be terrific with grilled beef, chili, or even tacos.

cost - $22.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8

2005 Steele Carneros Pinot Noir, Sonoma, California

Another standout wine from Carneros. I must be beginning a Carneros kick to replace my focus on Syrah. I could do much worse. This wine is the result of efforts by Jed Steele. Jed is not only a terrific wine maker, he is a pretty cool person. This I know first hand. In my previous life I had the opportunity to cross paths and share wine with Jed on numerous occasions. Back then his wines were solid. This one is no exception, though I have had wines from Steele that have varied. The Pinot Noirs, though, seem to always be of top quality.

Jed started making wine in 1991. If I remember correctly, he was a transplant from Boston to California... but don't quote me on that. Anyway, he came to California and developed not only a passion for wine, but a passion for making wine. He started in 1991 using fruit purchased from grape growers and made his wine in a shared winery in which he rented space. He was a natural. By 1996 11 out of 18 wines that Jed made were rated outstanding, and it was in 1996 that he purchased a winery and began expanding his efforts.

This wine had really pronounced strawberry in the nose, very concentrated. There were also hints of cassis and a slight smokiness. The palate carried the strawberry fruit, balanced with a little chocolate. There was oak in the palate, but really subtle, and the finish was longish but not unpleasant. All in all a very solid Pinot Noir that paired perfectly with the salmon that I had for dinner.

It is appropriate that I had this wine now as at about this time every year Jed would throw a pre-Oscars party where people would dress up, drink his wines, eat great food and try to predict who would win what awards. It is now pre-Oscars time and I just had a Jed Steele wine. I do not have any Oscar predictions, though. For that, you must check my other blog...

Just kidding. I could care less about the Oscars.

cost - $22.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.5

2002 Cline Los Carneros Syrah, Sonoma, California

There is no reality where it was fair to ask another syrah to follow our experience with the Ridge syrah from a couple of days ago. In fact, after the Ridge we should have just quit trying wine and deleted the blog. And yet, here we are.

This is a solid syrah, a nice value and very drinkable. It didn't really stand out in any way, though, and just tasted really neutral. Again, not fair given our minds being blown by two syrahs so recently. The nose of this wine is light, with just a little fruit and a baked cookies kind of scent. A lot of Californian syrahs have that baked cookies smell to me. Some people totally get that, some don't. Cat thinks she smelled that too, but she's not sure and mostly just humors me.

The flavors on the palate were ripe dark cherries, a little allspice or clove... I can't tell the difference, and that same baked cookie quality. It was medium bodied with little tannin and a longish finish. The finish did not seem balanced and was a bit cloying, like many other Californian syrahs.

Cline positions the Los Carneros syrah as one of their best, and the fruit is from a small 18 acre vineyard along a hillside in the center of Sonoma's cool climate area. That is ideal for producing rich, concentrated fruit and sets my expectations for what this wine would be like. it didn't really live up to a small vineyard production "best" syrah, but just to reiterate... it was a nice wine and enjoyable. Just not that memorable.

cost - $21.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 6

2001 Sadler-Wells Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Sometimes I feel like I am becoming Paul Giamatti's character in the movie Sideways. There IS something about pinot noir and it makes me insane. I love Burgundy, I love the Willamette Valley, and I love Sonoma and the Russian River Valley. All of these areas can produce really excellent wines that are so totally different from each other... but distinctly pinot noir. Good times.

Anyway, scored this wine on sale and had never had it before. I had never heard of it before, either, so I was excited to try it. Both Cat and I thought the nose was really interesting. I picked up some subtle sulfur, in a good way, and you can read into that whatever the hell you want. Cat got kind of a soapy scent. The wine was restrained with little fruit. It was dry, and finished quickly but I thought it had a pretty cool cinnamon quality to the finish. You know how cinnamon makes the back and sides of your tongue react? This wine did the same thing. It is a great wine with food and we had it with one of my impromptu curry's this evening, and it held up quite well. I served the curry with beef knowingly breaking all Hindu tradition. We are not Hindu. The beef was from a farm owned by friends of the family and was organic and grass-fed. More on that later in a different post.

cost - $22.00 on sale from $29.99

served with - mixed vegetable chick pea curry with beef

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8.5