PINOT NOIR: UNITED STATES

+RUN AWAY NOW+
Plowbuster Pinot Noir
United States: Oregon (Willamette Valley)
Pinot Noir (red)
2009
$19.99
75 pts
I'm a big Willamette Valley Pinot fan...as is Scott. Clearly, we're not alone. This region and its thoughtful vintners nearly always deliver a solid Pinot Noir, one of the most difficult wines to produce, given the fragile, temperamental nature of these thin-skinned grapes. But the 2009 Plowbuster is not a wine I can recommend, particularly at twenty bucks a bottle. The best thing this wine has going for it is the pretty ruby color. The nose is stingy, perhaps revealing the tiniest whiff of black cherry, but it's awfully tight. The taste profile includes the aforementioned cherries on the mid-palette, followed by an unusual metallic minerality that has good length, but overpowers all, and just doesn't taste good to me. There is no initial attack on this wine at all. One simply has to wait...and wait...and wait...for the cherries, which then quickly give way to the powerful taste of, perhaps, tin? I find the 2009 Plowbuster disjointed, unbalanced, and distasteful. Perhaps a rough vintage? Wine Spectator gave the 2008 89 points, citing tea as part of its taste profile. I'm not a fan of tea, so maybe that's part of my dislike. I've read the winemaker says this particular plot of land is littered with bits of steel from plows that have worked the fields over the years. Interesting, but even if that accounts for the steely taste, that's more of a good story than a good plan to make wine. I say this one's a +RUN AWAY NOW+, and Scott agreed, refusing to drink any more of his own bottle of wine. Good thing we had a little Borsao Spanish red standing by to enjoy on that lovely night in the front yard with Dana & Gail!

NOTE: I rated this wine after a lengthy period of opening up, during which the taste profile seemed to transform from an overly sweet wine to a wine dominated by the steely minerality.

Benton Valley Pinot Noir
United States: Oregon (Willamette Valley: Monroe)
100% Pinot Noir (red)
2008
$18.00
87 pts
This Willamette Valley Pinot (by the way, recently learned locals pronounce Willamette like damn-it...suppose you Oregonians know, but had no clue...thanks, Dana!) offers a measure of cherries and the characteristic cocoa finish, but is awfully light, even for a Pinot. The fruit disappears after a quick hit of cherries, faster than a Republican candidate for President at an immigrant's rights rally. While this wine strikes me as needing another year or two to mature, as it stands now, the best part is the finish, with cocoa and a hint of musty earthiness emerging, and lingering rather pleasingly. Overall, it's a decent Pinot, but not a MUST TRY: just too thin, too lacking in fruit flavor, and without any coherent transition from the initial cherry to the cocoa finish. I'll say this, though: it's light, easy drinking...and it just does NOT go with Mike 'n Ike's candy. Trust me.

+MUST TRY+
Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
United States: Oregon (Willamette Valley: Newberg)
100% Pinot Noir (red)
2009
$22.99
90 pts
The nose on this wonderful northwestern US Pinot offers cherries, raspberries and fresh earth. In the mouth, the initial attack is young cherries with hints of earth underneath, followed by a surprising finish that almost explodes with candied sour cherries. The length? Outstanding! The first word that came to mind when this wine hit my mouth was "elegant"--it's smooth, refined (even at this young age), and confident. My guess is that with more time in the bottle, the youthful cherries on the front end will gain maturity and more sophistication. And perhaps the already rich earthiness will become even more pronounced in a few years. The Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is delicious, balanced and worth the price tag, just over twenty bucks.

Uptown Pinot Noir (by Uptown Cellars)
United States: Califorina (North Coast)
Pinot Noir (red)
2008
$12.00
88 pts
Scott brought this Pinot up to our rooftop deck last weekend for an informal gathering of neighbors from the building, and while I was already drinking Prosecco (and Verdejo, too), this wine was so good upon a taste that I had to have a glass...and he was kind enough to give me the rest of the bottle at the end of the night. Distributed by the Midwest Wine Exchange based in Novi, MI--which claims to specialize in small boutique wines at affordable prices--this is a very nice Pinot Noir at a good price. I find the color unusually dark for a Pinot Noir (dark cherry), but it is beautiful. The kind of wine when you examine the color in the light, you want to drink it. The weight is more typical of the varietal (light), but it has a creamy mouth feel which I like a great deal. As for taste profile, cherries, definitely (and maybe some raspberry notes, too), but on the back end, there is a subtle little hint of cocoa, or of chocolate, that leaves me feeling like I've just had a chocolate-covered cherry in my mouth (not the taste of the chocolate-covered cherry in my mouth per se, but the taste left there after consuming it; it's subtle). There's also a floral bitterness that lingers on the finish, which I'm not really crazy about (doesn't seem in harmony with the rest of the taste profile). But for about twelve bucks, this is a decent Pinot. Not a MUST TRY, but a slightly above average wine for the price, in my opinion--like a .280 hitter with no power and a good glove. Cooperstown won't be calling, but you could do worse than have him bat in the two spot.