Califronia wine advice please . . .

[ZOO]

I enjoyed a lovely Pinot Noir on the weekend called Meiomi -- and as it turns out it is no longer available through our retailer in ON (the LCBO -- the biggest liquor retailer in the world, for what it's worth). It was the 2011 vintage . . .

Is anyone familiar with it? If so, can you recommend any others that may be similar. It was, to my relatively unrefined palate, the most exquisite red wine I've ever had the pleasure of.

[Vipergrün]

There are some really good Oregon Pinot's from the Willamette Valley.

I like Owen Roe Sharecroppers Pinot.

Not familiar with the one you mention.

[Don Plumley]

I glanced at the tech sheet - fruit is sourced from Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma counties. Not much barrel age and a bunch of new oak. I was surprised the alcohol was below 14 given this. It sounds like you prefer a more fruit-forward wine, that's a little more bold than a Burgundy styled Pinot Noir. If so, Oregon isn't much known for fruit-forward.

For a pinot, that's a pretty attractive price point and I really don't have any recommendations there. A good small wine shop, based on description should point you to a similar wine that suits your palate, price, and availability in Canada.

[rusnak]

Oh yes, give me a second.

Benziger Pinot Noir, from the Benziger Family Winery. They make a very nice organic Pinot Noir.

You might also try Alexander Valley Vinyard. They make a great Bordeaux style wine called "Cyrus". If you're in Target and want a cheap Pinot, there are many great selections there now, to be honest.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by rusnak

If you're in Target and want a cheap Pinot

As a Sonoma County Pinot Noir specialist producer, I'd venture that most of the "cheap pinot" in Target or anywhere is California AVA, not 100% pinot, ad nausum. I'm not a pinot snob, but this is an incredibly difficult varietal to grow, and good grapes are very, very expensive.

I will say, that wine is an incredibly personal thing, and one's man poison is another man's favorite beverage. So do drink what you like, and like what you drink - not what someone else, me included, tells you...

[RWebb]

From the info DOn dug up, this sounds like a wine made to hook a new drinker - nothing wrong with that. But I wouldn't exactly buy a ton of it as your tastes may change later on.

Don, what is the requirement in Calif. for Pinot content to be labelled as that? IIRC, it is ~~75% for cabernet.

also, why aren't you a a pinot snob? shouldn't you aspire to that?

[Cajundaddy]

A tremendous selection of excellent Calif. wine is available depending on your preferences and price point. As Don says it is very personal indeed and my impression of a favored wine is often colored by the friends and surroundings I enjoy it with. A variation on the placebo effect I suppose. So many labels, so little time.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by RWebb

Don, what is the requirement in Calif. for Pinot content to be labelled as that? IIRC, it is ~~75% for cabernet.

TTB rules - 75% varietal content to be labeled as the varietal. Typically the same for AVA, 95% for vintage.

[imcarthur]

You mean like this:



I had this in a restaurant near the AGO & I too thought it was amazing for the price. Somehow they captured the fruit & the mouth feel of a good French Burgundy. Many US pinots - Wash, Oregon & Cali - remind me of unfizzy soda pop. The Meiomi didn't. I also tried a 2011 with similar results.

Just to explain wine marketing in Ontario, we buy from one retailer: the LCBO. 13.5 million customers. We are at the whim of their buyers & the various wine distributors that feed them for any & all supply. Niagara producers excepted . . .

Ian

[tadink]

In a logical world, you might be able to find some Pinot's from BC - however, it is not a logical world and I believe it is as difficult to get BC wine across Canada as it is to get CA wines!

The 2007 Russian River Pinot's were just spectacular, and anything you can find from that vintage would be magic. Paul Hobb's made a wonderful offering that year.

I'm also a wine producer in CA, but we grow Cabernet Sauvignon. And we have some experience trying to export wines to CAN. sigh.

There may be a way to special order wines thru the LCBO, I've heard about it but never had anyone provide hard evidence that it actually works....

You'll just have to come to CA for a wine tasting trip!

td
Dos Lagos Vineyards, Napa, California

[imcarthur]

Yes, I believe that you can special order from the Ontario distributor of a product line. A little Goggle turned up: Rogers & Company. They are currently listing # 54.02 Pinot Noir “Meiomi” 2012 Sonoma Coast $26.95 on their retail price list pdf.

Ian

[RWebb]

if you guys can smuggle in cheese from the US, then why not wine?

[ZOO]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions so far. We are off to the LCBO tomorrow to see what we can uncover. I'm not sure I'd consider myself a "new wine drinker" -- but I've been home-Province proud for quite a while, and hadn't had much in the way of wine from California save Ernest and Juilo Gallo offerings back when I was young.

I will also look for some of the other suggestions.

[Cajundaddy]

If you like the Meiomi Pinot, you might also like one of the blended wines from Cotes du Rhone France. We were introduced to these when our daughter was living in the region a few years ago and they are considered a simple table wine locally but really quite good to my palate. We have not found a disappointing bottle yet and they are quite affordable. This is a good one but there are many others:

E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône 2007 - Moderne Barn Wine

[creaturecat]

nice.
25 bucks
1984 units available as of Aug 5/13.
vintage 2010/2011
BC Liquor Stores

[creaturecat]

We have found an alarmingly high rate of Brettanomyces in the French wines that we have purchased over the last few years.
We tend to stay away from the French reds, due to this.
Disappointing.

[tadink]

LOL - Brett, from French wines? yup, that's where the "Bordeaux Barnyard" monicker comes from! The thing about Brett is - once you've got it, you've got it! Almost no way to get rid of the bacteria in the wine cellar, and when you consider that they've been making wine in caves and where people used to live for a few thousand years, its no wonder there are some 'off fragrances' to a lot of the French wines.

However, if you grow up drinking ONLY wine that smells like that, that becomes the 'norm' and wine that does not have that leather, 'back end of a horse' smell is the weird stuff. Ergo, CA and new world wines have a tough uphill slog in places like the UK where French wine is the dominant market leader.

Enter the Chinese market - who were edumacated by the French during the great French wine glut some 15-20 years ago. The 'truths' that the French educated the Chinese on are as follows: 1) you never drink wine with food, 2) young wine cannot be good wine, and 3) wine that smells good is NOT good! LOL, imagine the top Napa producers trying to penetrate that market!

wine tidbits - FWIW

td

[rusnak]

Pino tends to mutate every few years, which is why it's thought to be a "difficult" variety.

My guess is that most pinot in most years is blended with other pinots. So we are splitting hairs over the 5% thing, are we not?

[Bill Douglas]

Good to hear you drink pinot noirs Zoo. That's all I drink (booze wise) I like our New Zealand ones, but only from Central Otago LOL. So if you get the chance have one of these.

I also drink medium/inexpensive pinots from time to time and it's kind of fun "discovering" one that is half price in the supermarket. I tend to test drive a bottle here and a bottle there and if they any are good - and half priced! I buy a case or two.

[70SATMan]

I had a 2010 Windy Oaks Pinot the other evening while dining out and I was totally blown away by it. My wife who would not characterize herself as a red wine drinker loved it as well.

I'm going to buy some of it up. Reading up a bit, I found that 2009 and 2010 was especially kind to the Santa Cruz area vintages due to the cool weather.