2002 Calera El Niño Pinot Noir
California
$13.99
www.calerawine.com

I heard some terribly upsetting news a couple of weeks ago. At first I questioned its source, thinking my informant confused by a malicious rumor possibly overheard from some misinformed third party; he couldn’t have all the facts I hoped. Yet, just last week I heard the same sad words again. I’ve had to come to terms with what I now know to be true: Calera’s El Niño Pinot Noir is being “retired” as soon as the current vintage sells through. I even remember where I was when I first heard those unsettling words. This is sad news for us all. I’ve tried not be spiteful or petty or bitter but it’s hard and I’m looking for someone to blame. Why would Josh Jensen de-list a wine that has stood as THE benchmark for inexpensive and reliable California pinot noir? Granted, I’ve never been invited to take a peek at Calera’s balance sheet but this is simply too hard for me to stomach. What pinot am I to drink now on the cheap, Echelon? Give me a break Josh Jensen.

Calera’s 2002 El Niño was brilliantly clear and a lightly fading raspberry-red color in the glass. While sweet red fruits like cherry and raspberry fill the nose here, this wine presents pinot fruit that’s fresh and pure in quality. It offers light leaf, orange rind and an aromatic purity that will maintain your interest and not overwhelm. Made with little oak, this pinot noir showcases delicate red fruit flavors in a lightly extracted style. El Niño is slightly sappy, light-to-medium in weight, and finishes with good length and enough acidity to carry you through dinner. El Niño has always been bright and focused, pure and simple California pinot noir. This bottle was no exception.

I’ve always enjoyed Calera’s pinots (as I sit and write these words more than a few good bottles lay close by), but I don’t really have the splash for the Mills, Selleck and Jensen single vineyards. While I will splurge on occasion and live a little large, it was the El Niño and Central Coast bottlings that most frequently received my monetary affections. That I found El Niño’s 2002 vintage to be one of its best makes this goodbye all the more tearful. You will be sorely missed. Highly recommended!

2002 Turjanis Pinot Noir
Steiner Vineyard
Sonoma Mountain
$35.95
www.turjanis.com

Any lover of Napa Valley cabernet can tell you: mountain-grown fruit is a very good thing. With its rich tannin and black currant concentration, cabernet sauvignon from the slopes of Diamond, Howell or Spring Mountains is indeed pretty special. Be it the better drainage and poor, thin soils, or the longer growing season provided by these cooler elevations, mountain-grown fruit can yield intense satisfaction, satisfaction that comes, oftentimes, at equally intense prices. It’s this sort of density and concentration that many pinot growers and winemakers now desire and why, increasingly, pinot noir is being planted in the more marginal climes found in the Santa Rita Hills, Edna Valley and the “true” Sonoma Coast. You see, pinot noir is fast moving to the hills and frequently with stunning results.

Turjanis Steiner Vineyard Pinot Noir was a deep and nearly opaque plum-red color in the glass. Brimming with black cherry, plum, currant and blackberry, this Sonoma Mountain pinot noir was densely stuffed with flavors of dark fruits. Thankfully, this rich fruit avoided being overripe in quality. It was spicy with black pepper, graphite and leather, and finished with slate-like minerality. The bold oak here used left an indelible impression on the senses, but contributed its signature vanilla and cedar-box scent to good effect. While I found its texture sappy and rich in fruit tannin, it lacked the acidity I think required to balance such a full frame. Turjanis Pinot Noir was a mouthful of wine!

While Steiner Vineyard was extraordinary in many respects, it wasn’t subtle pinot noir and not of the style I reach for on a regular basis (especially given its substantial price). Although I found its massive weight and alcohol to be fatiguing during dinner, I did enjoy it all the same, and just like those rich cabernets from misty Napa hillsides, I think it will benefit dramatically from additional bottle age. If you pick up a bottle or two and have the patience, waiting five to seven years just might do the trick. Sonoma Mountain has been the source of other richly flavored pinots I’ve enjoyed in the past and this bottle of Turjanis proved no exception. It’s crafted like a Jackson Pollock canvas: broad and heavy with oil, boldly painted by a commanding stroke. Recommended.

2001 Joseph Swan Vineyards Pinot Noir
Trenton Estate Vineyard
Russian River Valley
$46.95
www.swanwinery.com

While France may indeed have her La Tâche and Romanée Conti, it must be acknowledged that she was the first to enjoy a powerful advantage: time was in her favor. Generations of experience and invaluable insight were collected during more than a few seasons tending and pruning and hobbling about the vines of Clos de Vougeot. Here, New World vineyards are planted by dreamers, brows furrowed with hope, and most only within the last two or three generations. Here, growers survey new sites daily as they search for that synergy of skill and sunshine, budwood and sweat that culminate in a great glass of pinot. I sense Joseph Swan was just that sort of man: singular, visionary and hopeful.

Joseph Swan’s 2001 Pinot Noir was deep and transparent plum-red in the glass. With aromas of red raspberry, black cherry and currant, the palate is pleased with both high-toned, bright fruit flavors and darker, more brooding textures. This wine was finely balanced between bright and dark fruits presenting a mouthfeel rich with lean muscularity. With its contribution of cedar, vanilla and Asian spice (clove and coriander?), oak plays an active role in this wine’s impression on the palate. Yet, never was this overdone or out of place: this pinot provides fruit with weight and power enough to buttress such good oak! Powerful and aromatically engaging, this Russian River Valley pinot noir drank lean with medium texture, finishing long and deliciously dry. This was remarkably satisfying wine.

In short, Swan’s Trenton Estate Vineyard is serious pinot noir worthy of a cellar and pinot that encourages confidence that more of America’s great vineyards will surely be discovered in due time. Highly recommended!