Oregon Pinot At Our House

It occurs to me recently that I've gotten lazy about choosing our wines at home; it's just gotten so easy to choose the "go to" producers from the regions I enjoy. Case in point: Oregon pinot noir. I love pinot from Oregon: I love the variations from year to year and house to house, and while I don't buy and drink as much of it as I would like, I do think I drink more pinot from Oregon than any other region in the world combined. So now that it's winter in San Francisco these bottles have been coming out of the woodworks at home. Most of these are the bottles we drink routinely on work nights with roast chicken, pork chops, and salmon. I have found 2008 to be an exceptional year across the board, with more variation and less concentration in 2009. I enjoyed the 2007s, but not when they were still too young -- they are still only starting to open up -- and 2006 was phenomenal from the beginning. Here's my thinking:

2006 = great year, early drinking, good concentration and roundness of flavor (drink or hold)

2007 = considerable variation, marked by less concentration, more acidity, but also greater floral aromatics and longevity, better served with food (hold)

2008 = see 2006.

2009 = see 2007.

2008 Botanica **** Robust blue-purple in the glass, with a Smörgåsbord (?) of berry compote, subtle oak flavors and anise. Listed as 13.8% alcohol. Probably incomparable.

2008 Antica Terra *** A more riveting, if ultimately less profound, companion to the Botanica.

2008 Adelsheim ** Deep plum in the glass with some red at the edge; marked by woodsy notes, earth tones, bluish phenolics and wonderful roundness in the mouth. Perfect with dinner.

2009 Adelsheim * Plum color, with fruitcake cum strawberry rhubarb notes. Dusty and fine; very polite.

2008 Shea Cellars Estate *** At 14.8% alcohol, one of the higher octane, if not the highest, pinots in my cellar from Oregon? Noticeably concentrated flavors, perhaps even to the point that it sacrifices a touch of whoseness and class. For sheet enjoyment, however, it's hard to beat. Blue tone berry fruits with an underlying citrusy Zzzing! just as it crosses the throat.

2007 Bryce Vineyard **/*** A difficult wine to discern, but just so very Bryce, and the kind of wine I will miss drinking very much now that this producer has leased the vines to Ken Wright. Plum color, bold strawberry notes with anise, fresh floral notes and wet earth...the acidity and the floral notes are what make this wine so interesting. Cinderella before the ball. It's ... just .... so ... Bryce.

2008 Bryce Vineyard *** A classier, more voluptuous version of the 2007; i.e., Cinderella post fairy godmother touch up.

Tablas Creek On Vacation

I don't get away very often, but when I do, I try to bring good wine. The trouble is choosing it. This year we returned to the Baja of Mexico, which carries its own problems in choosing wine. For one, you haver to account for the heat, the salty air, and the occasional wafting into your sensory realm of burnt garbage at night (I'm not wrong, am I -- they do burn their garbage at night, and it sort of stinks up the whole bay?). For another, you have to anticipate your own tastes, which can be a moving target at best. So I went simple this year, and brought three bottles of a go-to producer whose wines I have been enjoying revisiting recently: Tablas Creek.

2006 Tablas Creek EdB Blanc 2006 *** was heavy and velvety in the mouth and held up nicely with all that grilled Bonita we were eating. It's the kind of white wine that comes as neatly as possible to the fullness of red wine in the mouth. Pineapples, coconut, and mellon at first whiff, followed by a brief tang of mellow apple and white stones on the finish. You could drink this alone.

2007 Tablas Creek EdB Blanc 2007 ** was lighter than the 2006, perhaps more delicate in the mouth, with fleeting notes of coconut and mango. This reminded me more of a Rhone wine, rather than a Rhone-inspired wine. Lovely paired with all those tacos.

2006 Tablas Creed EdB 2006 **/*** Purple plum color, with beef notes and dried herbs in the glass. On the palate, some briery notes, cola, root beer, mellow citrus towards the top of the mouth as it finishes. Unfortunately my mother in law drank most of the rest of this bottle of wine so my notes sort of trail off from there.