I wanted a deftly handled chardonnay to drink with LL’s roasted sea bass and pancetta with braised leeks, sweet potatoes and black garlic, so I plucked a bottle of Trefethen Estate Chardonnay 2010, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley, from the fridge, and it delivered all the purity and intensity that I was looking for. This is a chardonnay — aged only nine months in French oak and only 16 percent new barrels — that embodies Platonic ideals of poise and integration, subtlety and elegance. Classic scents of ripe pineapple and grapefruit seem fairly typical until a few moments in the glass bring out an extraordinary display of thyme, lavender and bay leaf, quince and ginger, with back-notes of shale and limestone. The wine is both full-blown juicy and rigorously dry, its flavors of fresh apples, lemon curd and baked grapefruit cut by clean vibrant acidity and scintillating limestone-like minerality, so that its lovely soft dense almost powdery texture is bolstered and balanced by crispness and a sense of vivid alertness; yes, I’m talking about character and breeding. The alcohol content is a very comfortable 13.5 percent. Now through 2015 or ’16, well-stored. Winemaker was Zeke Neeley. Excellent. About $30, though prices around the country go as low as $22.

A sample for review from a wholesaler.

Here’s a sauvignon blanc wine not to be missed. The Hess Allomi Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Napa Valley, was fermented in stainless steel and then spent six months in neutral French oak barrels, “neutral” meaning that the barrels have been used enough times that they impart little of the more obvious wood influences but can lend the wine subtlety of spice and suppleness of texture. The color is shimmering pale gold; aromas of lemongrass, lychee, gooseberry and pear are augmented by hints of thyme and tarragon, a mild grassy element and a backnote of tangerine. The wine is beautifully balanced and integrated, tart and zingy with taut acidity, but not as startlingly tart as many examples from New Zealand; roasted lemon and grapefruit flavors harmonize with a sunny-leafy fig-like quality, all nestled in a structure that paradoxically, but happily, marries talc-like softness with crispness and tension, finishing with an arrow-bright stream of grapefruit rind and limestone. And just to show you how some wines make surprising matches, we drank this one night with fennel-braised pork-belly with green olives and potato-leek mash; it was terrific. 13.5 percent alcohol. Now through the end of 2012. Excellent. About $16, representing Great Value.

A sample for review.

The vineyard and wine-making region of Ribera del Duero lies on the vast plateau of north-central Spain, athwart the Duero River in the province of Castilla y Leon. The principal grape is Spain’s most famous, the red tempranillo, known, however, in Ribera del Duero as tinto fino. Tempranillo is also the primary grape of Rioja, to the northeast, in Navarra; while Rioja long held a reputation for fine red wines — or, to be honest, frequently long-aged, woody, attenuated wines — Ribera del Duero functions as the upstart, the relatively new kid on the block, at least in terms of gaining international renown. Traditionally matured in American oak barrels, the wines of Ribera del Duero have come under the spell of French barriques, and you will see some evidence of that influence in this report, though as usual in the Friday Wine Sips, I eliminate technical, historical and explicit geographical data. The wines of Ribera del Duero must contain 75 percent tempranillo grapes, the rest made up from merlot, cabernet sauvignon, grenache, malbec or the local albillo; most of the wines mentioned here are 100% tempranillo. “Crianza” indicates a wine that has undergone at least one-year aging in oak barrels. These are not wines of finesse and refinement, but when well-balanced by fruit, their power and presence can be seductive. With two exceptions, these were samples for review. It was particularly gratifying to taste examples from 2005, ’04 and ’03.
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Vivir, Vivir 2007, Ribero del Duero. (Bodegas J.C. Conde) 13% alc. Medium ruby-mulberry color with a darker center; soft, funky spicy nose, macerated red and black currants and plums; lovely ripe and fleshy black fruit character, vibrant acidity and fine-grained tannins; dusty graphite and underbrush, bittersweet chocolate, finish more austere and rigorous. Now to 2015 or ’17. Very Good+. About $12, so Run Out and Buy a Case.
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Damana 5 2007, Ribera del Duero. 14% alc. With 4 percent cabernet sauvignon. Med ruby color; red currants, raspberries and plums with that slight astringency of the tempranillo grape; high notes of wild berries and violets; dry and tannic, dried spices and a sort of distillation or intensification of potpourri and graphite; finish a bit rustic, glaringly dry and austere. Try 2013 to 2016 to ’18. Very Good. About $16.
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Aventino Tempranillo 2007, Ribero del Duero. 13% alc. First note: “this is great!” Dark ruby color with a garnet rim; terrific balance of power and elegance with all elements perfectly integrated; tobacco, spice, dried flowers and berries; deeply tannic and wood-influenced but all melded and meshed and layered; texture and structure one with the fruit and bright acidity; a few moments bring up hints of oolong tea, orange rind and fruitcake. Now through 2016 to ’18. Excellent. About $13, an Absolute Freaking Bargain and Worth a Search.
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Ebano 6 2007, Ribero del Duero. NA% alc. Dark ruby color with a touch of magenta at the rim; give it a few minutes in the glass and it becomes quite appealing and drinkable; rich, warm, spicy, savory; red and black currants and cherries, tea and bittersweet chocolate; hefty, slightly grainy tannins are still fairly tight but unfold with airing in the glass; black and red fruit flavors open to hints of sour cherry and fruitcake; solid structure with some manageable woody austerity in the finish. Drink now through 2015 to ’17. Very Good+. About $18, Good Value.
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Tinto Federico Roble 2007, Ribero del Duero. 12.5% alc. Warm, fleshy, spicy, ripe, appealing; softly macerated red and black berries and plums, touch of tobacco and iodine plus the whole box of exotic spices; plush and velvety yet sustained by striking acidity and fairly resolute tannins; the woody, tannin nature comes out more in the dry, austere finish. Try 2013 to 2017 or ’18. Very Good+. About $18.
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Pagos del Infante Crianza 2006, Ribero del Duero. (Lynus Viñedos y Bodegas) 14.5% alc. Dark ruby color; cool, clean, scintillating inky graphite-like minerality, a touch of mint; more spice than fruit, though an intense concentration of black currants, black raspberries and plums with fruitcake, orange pekoe tea and quince paste; long, dense, impressive, avoids austerity through sheer power of personality. A modern style but more than merely legitimate. Now through 2018 to ’20. Excellent. About $NA.
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Callejo Crianza 2006, Ribero del Duero. 14% alc. Lots of dimension without much detail; dense, dusty, chewy iron-like tannins; leather and brambles; even the warm spicy aromas feel as if they’re part of some rigorous architecture, etched with a smoke and charcoal edge; dry and austere. A big hmmmm. Perhaps try from 2014 to 2018. Very Good. About $30.
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Portia 2006, Ribera del Duero. 14% alc. Dark ruby with a slightly lighter rim; ripe, spicy, fleshy, warm; good balance and integration; tasty and appealing; moderate and well-integrated oak and tannins. Not exciting but drinks nicely. Now through 2014 to ’16. Very Good. About $30 (or close)
(more…)

Pine Ridge Winery, founded in the Napa Valley in 1978 by a partnership headed by Gary Andrus, made its reputation on cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, but the smartest business move the producer ever made was in creating a chenin blanc-viognier blend and selling it cheap. This justly popular wine — if I owned a restaurant I would sell it by bottle and glass — hits all the points the American palate desires in an inexpensive white wine: it’s tasty, nicely complex for the price and a trifle sweet.

The Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2011 is a blend of 79 percent chenin blanc and 21 percent viognier. The wine is clean and fresh, with beguiling aromas of ripe pears (and pears and more pears), roasted lemons and a hint of peaches, twined with touches of mango, lemongrass, jasmine and green tea, for a flirtatious note of the exotic. Pear, peach and citrus flavors are spicy enough (and slightly herbal) that the wine is almost savory, not to mention crisp and lively with bright acidity that cuts through a lovely, moderately lush texture. That trifle of sweetness emerges mainly in the finish, but makes the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2011 a good match with slightly spicy cuisine. It’s versatile too; we drank it one night with whole-wheat linguine with walnuts, orange zest and red chilies and the next with cod and chorizo stew. 12 percent alcohol. Michael Beaulac is Pine Ridge’s general manager and winemaker. Bottled with a screw-cap for easy opening. Very Good+. About $14, representing Fantastic Value.

A sample for review.

Answer? Ready?

E&J Gallo’s Carlo Rossi brand.

Yes, the wine in the bulbous 1.5-liter bottle that we — of a certain age — glugged down in graduate school and thereafter, until knowledge, experience and more or less financial stability pointed us toward more sophisticated and better quality wines, a process that opened doors to a vinous world beyond our ken: that label captures 7 percent of the entire wine market in Poland. Add Gallo’s Barefoot label, and the figure climbs to a 9 percent share of the Polish market for the giant Modesto-based company. For Carlo Rossi alone, that’s about four million liters annually, amounting to 3 billion PLN or 9.3 billion dollars. (Duh, I think that should be $1.1 billion; see the comment from sharp-eyed math whiz Jim.) The population of Poland is only about 38.2 million.

My attention was drawn to this phenomenon by a news item, issued on March 21, by Just Drinks (and reported by other sources) that Central European Distribution Corporation had signed an agreement with Gallo to distribute its products in Poland for three more years. CEDC is one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of vodka, as well as a major presence in Poland, Hungary and Russia for the multitude of whiskeys and other spirits and liqueurs that it imports. The company was founded by William V. Carey in 1997, as an outgrowth of a defunct company he and his father had exporting beef to Poland. Carey remains CEDC’s chairman and CEO. The company is headquartered in Warsaw but keeps an office in the United States.

There was an actual Carlo Rossi, that is, Charlie Rossi, a longtime salesman for Gallo who was related to the family by marriage. He went to work for the company in 1953, and in 1962 the Carlo Rossi Mountain Red label was released. Production of Mountain Red ceased in 1975 and Carlo Rossi Paisano, of which I and my then wife and our friends drank many a glass, stepped up to the plate as the label’s mainstay. Rossi was the spokesman for the brand and in the 1970s was somewhat of a pop culture figure because of the ubiquitous television commercials and his famous slogan, “I like to talk about wine, but I’d rather drink it.” In the commercials, Rossi looked as if he meant what he said. He died in Modesto — seems fitting — in April 1994 at the age of 90.

In the intervening years, the Carlo Rossi label has expanded considerably. In addition to Paisano, the line includes, for reds, Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Merlot, Sangria and Sweet Red (isn’t that redundant?); for whites, Chablis, Chardonnay and Rhine; and then Blush, Vin Rose and White Zinfandel. These are available in 1.5 or 3 or 4-liter jugs or 5-liter boxes.

I contacted Ewa Wielezynska, vice editor-in-chief of Magazyn Wino, based in Warsaw, for her assessment of the situation.

“This single brand made California the best selling region in Poland,” she said. “I’m not even sure if people know that it’s from California, maybe they think it’s Italian. Carlo Rossi is in every country site, in every gas station in the deepest provinces. The day that Carlo Rossi is dethroned will be a day when Polish people actually start to like wine.”

Wielezynska said that in Poland advertising alcoholic beverages over 7 percent alcohol is forbidden under the Education in Sobriety law, but “Gallo is very clever in their strategy, so they advertise their products through virtual events, concerts and CD promotions.”

Here’s an example of a Carlo Rossi promotion tied to Fashion Week Poland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xFKNzFARk

Meet me at Carlo Club, anyone?

Today we look at seven wines chosen to satisfy the sense of freshness and renewal that comes — or should come — with Spring. In fact, it’s gently raining in my neck o’ the woods at this moment, and all the shades of green in the backyard are pulsing with color. These are mainly delicate wines made for sipping or matching with food more refined that we consumed in Winter, what we had of that season, anyway. There’s a delightful Moscato d’Asti, two wines made in different fashions from the torrontés grape — and I deplore that fact that almost all importers have dropped the accent from torrontés — a robust little Côtes du Rhône red for when you decide to grill burgers, and so on. (I also deplore the fact that WordPress will not allow me to post Macon with a circumflex.) As usual with Friday Wine Sips, I include no technical or historical or geographical data; the idea is incisive notices designed to get at the heart of the wine quickly. The order is by ascending price. With one exception, these were samples for review.
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Callia Alta Torrontes 2011, Valle de Tulum, San Juan, Argentina. 13.5% alc. Not as shamelessly floral as many torrontés wines are, a little more restrained, even slightly astringent; but refreshing, cleansing, chaste, also quite spicy and savory; hints of lemon and lemongrass, zinging acidity and flint-like mineral elements. Screw-cap. Very Good+. About $9, a Raving Great Bargain.
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Trumpeter Torrontes 2010, Mendoza, Argentina. (Rutini Wines) 13.5% alc. Heady jasmine and honeysuckle, orange rind and lemon zest, mango and hints of tarragon and leafy fig; very spicy, very lively, lush texture balanced by crisp acidity; the finish dry, spare, focused. Very Good+. About $13, a Real Value.
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Michel Torino Malbec Rosé 2011, Calchaque Valley, Argentina. 13.5% alc. A beguiling rosy-light ruby color; strawberry and red cherry with touches of peach and rose petal; a darker note of mulberry; bright acidity with a crystalline mineral background; delightful and a little robust for a rosé, try with charcuterie or fried chicken. Very Good+. About $13, representing Good Value.
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La Petite Fontaine 2010, Côtes du Rhône, France. 14% alc. 60% grenache, 20% syrah, 15% cinsault, 5% carignan. Dark ruby color; fleshy, spiced and macerated blackberries, black currants and plums; smoke, briers and brambles, plush but somewhat rustic tannins, very earthy and minerally. Simple and direct, tasty; for burgers, grilled sausages and the like. Screw-cap. Very Good. About $13.
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Luca Bosio Moscato d’Asti 2010, Piedmont, Italy. 5.5% alc. Exactly what you want Moscato d’Asti to be: clean, fresh and lively, with notes of apple, orange and orange blossom and a hint of lime peel; mildly but persistently effervescent, a winsomely soft, cloud-like texture balanced by fleet acidity; initial sweetness that dissolves through a dry, limestone-laced finish. Truly charming. Very Good+. About $17
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Verget Terres de Pierres Macon-Village 2010, Maconnais, France. 13% alc. A lovely expression of the chardonnay grape; fresh and appealing, pineapple and grapefruit laced with jasmine and cloves, quince and ginger; very dry but juicy, sleek and svelte, borne on a tide of limestone and shale; makes you happy to be drinking it. A great choice for your house chardonnay. Very Good+. About $18. (Not a sample; I paid $22 in Memphis.)
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Trimbach Riesling 2009, Alsace, France. 13% alc. Pale straw-yellow; apple, fig and lychee, camellia, hints of pear and petrol; brings up a bit of peach and almond skin; very spicy, crisp and lively, svelte and elegant, nothing flamboyant or over-ripe; delicate flavors of roasted lemon and baked pears; long limestone-infused finish with a touch of grapefruit bitterness. Excellent. About $25.
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I happened upon a local Mom-and-Pop wine and liquor store recently with which I was unfamiliar. Right inside the front door stood the “Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!” sign, four months late. The shelves and racks held a typical selection of wine and spirits genres, brands and labels. Oh, well, I thought, doing a little exploring, not much interesting here. And then I spied a couple of shelves that presented a different appearance, an aura, as it were, of confidence, prosperity and unlimited potential. These shelves held rows of California cabernet sauvignon wines going back to 1995 and coming up to 2007, with all the years between represented. Some top-flight wines, well-known names. I felt a frisson of wonder and beguilement, expressed in a whispered, Holy shit! The selections seemed equally divided between those still at their original prices and those that had been reduced in price. I casually perused the labels and vintages and then plucked a couple from their resting places: Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, Napa Valley, and Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, Oakville District, Napa Valley.

Mount Veeder was founded in 1973 by Michael and Arlene Bernstein, 2,000 feet up the mountain for which the winery is named. From the beginning, they produced earthy, tannic, mineral-laced cabernets that often required a decade to shed their austerity and then rewarded those having patience with deep, rich, resonant flavors and balanced structures. Occasionally, the mountain-side tannins got the better of the wines, and there are Mount Veeder cabernets from the 1970s and early ’80s that never came around. Still, it was always gratifying to know that one could expect no compromise from this focused winery. The Bernsteins also made a little zinfandel, chenin blanc and chardonnay.

The Bernsteins sold the winery to Henry and Lisille Mathieson in 1982, but the significant change came in 1989, when the Mathiesons sold Mount Veeder to the partnership of Agustin Huneeus and the Eckes Corp. of what was then West Germany. The Eckes had hired Huneeus, a Chilean, to put Franciscan in shape to be sold, but under his sensible leadership, the winery had turned around and improved. In optimistic expansion mode, Huneeus launched Estancia, and then acquired the venerable Simi and Mount Veeder wineries. Along with Veramonte, in Chile, these properties comprised Franciscan Estates. The whole kit-and-kaboodle was sold to Constellation in 1998. Mount Veeder is now part of that giant corporation’s Icon Estates portfolio.

And what about the vintage?

The cabernet sauvignon grape profited from a series of fine years in the 1990s, particularly 1994 through ’97 but at each end of the decade too. The Spring and late Summer of 1998 were atypically rainy, and uneven ripening required careful practice in the vineyards and brought the prospect of a late harvest. September came through, though, with warmth and clean skies, and the harvest, which was somewhat reduced, lasted into early November.

So, the color of the Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 is a lovely dusky ruby with a faint garnet-hued rim; aromas of spiced and macerated red and black currants are just touched with cedar and tobacco and hints of mossy forest floor and dried mushrooms, while after a few minutes in the glass, the wine pulls up notes of iron-and-iodine-tinged minerality and lightly toasted walnuts. It’s quite dry in the mouth, with red and black fruit flavors ensconced in silky, finely-milled tannins and spicy, supple oak; give it 30 minutes or so to develop elements of dried orange zest, mocha and oolong tea, even as the acidity begins to assert itself a bit sharply. The finish is austere, a little woody, sweetly autumnal. 13.5 percent alcohol. This wine, a graceful and elegant measure of a mature Napa Valley cabernet, should drink nicely through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $42.

The Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc 2010, Paso Robles, isn’t just a well-made rendition of a southern Rhone Valley white wine; it’s better than about 75 percent of the examples from the region. A blend of 50 percent grenache blanc grapes, 33 percent viognier, 10 percent roussanne and 7 percent marsanne and made all in stainless steel, Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc 2010 is a pale straw-gold color; provocative aromas of roasted lemon, lime peel, dried thyme, ginger and quince are highlighted by a winsome note of honeysuckle. Flavors of lemon and spiced baked grapefruit generously open to hints of crystallized pear and Bit o’ Honey, though the wine is as bone dry as bright acidity and a burgeoning limestone element can make it; the complete effect is spare, supple, almost sinewy and yet juicy and savory, sleek and stylish. I bought this bottle at a local store, and we drank the wine last night with Vinegar-Braised Chicken with Leeks and Peas, a fantastic match; it would be great for serving as an aperitif through the Spring and Summer and with grilled fish or chicken. 13.5 percent alcohol. Tablas Creek is a collaboration between the Perrin family of Chateauneuf-du-Pape’s Chateau de Beaucastel and Robert Haas, owner of their American importer Vineyard Brands. Executive winemaker is Neil Collins; winemaker is Ryan Hebert. Excellent. About $20 (though I paid $22).

Dedicated to one grape, Archery Summit, in the Dundee Hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley region, has amassed an enviable reputation for pinot noir wines of impressive substance, tone and purity, at the same time as they seem to reflect the character of their single vineyards while projecting a somewhat heightened sense of stylish individuality. The winery was founded in 1993 by Gary Andrus and partners of Pine Ridge Winery in Napa Valley. The winery building, with its aging caves underneath, was finished in 1995. Winemaker is Anna Matzinger. Archery Summit pinots are built to impress, with prices to match, yet they tend to offer a wide range of subtlety and nuance along with their broad and deep dimensions. It was a pleasure to try them. These were samples for review.
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Archery Summit Premier Cuvee Pinot Noir 2009, Willamette Valley. The grapes for Archery Summit’s entry level pinot noir derive from five vineyards, including the producer’s top Arcus Estate, Red Hills Estate and Archery Summit Estate acreage. The wine aged 10 months in French oak, 46 percent new barrels. My first note is : “How lovely.” There’s real authority, authenticity and integrity here; the wine seethes with notes of black cherry, cola and cranberry layered over hints of rhubarb and cloves and a growing presence of briers and brambles. Flavors of black currants and plums, smoky oolong tea and mulberries harbor burgeoning earthiness and shale-like minerality, all ensconced in a luscious satiny texture balanced by bright acidity. 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $45.
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Archery Summit Looney Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009, Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley. Ribbon Ridge is Oregon’s smallest American Viticultural Area, encompassing 3,350 acres of which 500 acres are planted to vines; the region, awarded AVA status in 2005, lies within the Chehalem Mountain AVA, which in turn lies within the broader Willamette Valley AVA. The Archery Summit Looney Vineyard Pinot Noir ’09 aged 11 months in French oak, 45 percent new barrels. Elevating aromas of red and black currants and plums with undertones of cranberry and blueberry are deeply infused with hints of cloves and cola, rhubarb, briers and slate. A haze of exotic, woody spices and sweet floral notes informs flavors of black and blue fruit flavors cushioned by silky tannins and a vibrant acid structure that gains more density as the moments pass. An authentic marriage of power and elegance. 14.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $85.
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The 12-acre Renegade Ridge Vineyard, farmed by biodynamic methods since 2004, stands next to the Archery Summit Estate Vineyard in Willamette Valley’s Dundee Hills. The Archery Summit Renegade Ridge Pinot Noir 2009, Dundee Hills, aged 11 months in French oak barrels, 50 percent new, while, interestingly, 1/3 of it aged an additional 4 months. Does that process account for the wine’s unusually robust character and deep spicy elements, for this is a strapping, brawling pinot noir that one recognizes as pinot noir (one would not mistake it for syrah), but it exacts a price, subtracting some shades of meaning as it were, for its stalwart qualities. Do not look here for pinot’s fabled elegance and nuance, though this example certainly delivers an impressive snootful of powdered roses and violets, intense and concentrated black and red currants and plums and the whole redolent spice box of exoticism. 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2015 to ’17. Very Good+. About $85.
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Fermented in traditional open-top wood vats and aged 10 months in French oak barrels, 56 percent new, the Archery Summit Red Hills Estate Pinot Noir 2009, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, is a deep, rich, savory pinot with intimations of iron and iodine and higher notes of sassafras and beet-root and rhubarb, cloves and licorice and spiced and macerated red and black currants and plums. Give the wine a few minutes in the glass, and it pulls up tons of brambles and briers and underbrush, giving it a firm, earthy (and then slate-like) dimension that cannot conceal a spirit of finesse and elegance; this is the sort of paradox that makes great wines infinitely expressive and interesting. To intensify the paradox, building from these aspects of dimension and detail, the wine concludes with a powerful, slightly woody and austere finish. Now through 2016 to ’18. Excellent. About $85.
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Pure raspberry, black cherry and blueberry scents waft from a glass of the Archery Summit Arcus Estate 2009, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley. The wine fermented in a combination of open-top wood and stainless steel tanks and aged nine months in French oak, 70 percent new barrels. To that heady amalgam of bright fruit aromas are added notes of sour cherry and melon ball, cranberry and rhubarb, sweet Asian spices, mocha and rose petals. In terms of texture and structure, this is a robust, vibrant pinot noir that stops just shy of being syrah-like in opulence and earthy, graphite-tinged minerality, yet it never crosses the line, instead finding essential equilibrium in its seamless alliance of power and elegance; even the finish, for a large-framed wine, is supple and harmonious. Now through 2016 to ’19. Excellent. About $100.
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The Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir 2009, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, is a black and blue wine, by which I mean that the color is darkly radiant ruby/black with a violet tinge and the range of fruit scents and flavors is black cherry, black plum and blueberry, highlighted by rhubarb (o.k., rhubarb is neither black nor blue), licorice and pepper. The wine aged 10 months in French oak, 63 percent new barrels, and then an additional five months in older barrels. It’s broad and generous, a bit fleshy and macerated, yet firmly, almost rigorously structured by firm tannins, vibrant acidity and an undercurrent of graphite-like minerality; there’s an intriguing rooty, slightly vegetative component. This pinot was made in a fairly individual style, and while it’s more substantial than the pinots I adore — with that ineffable lightness of being wedded to essential earthiness — it’s quite remarkable for the manner in which it takes the grape to a singular stance, brooding yet selfless, of purity and intensity. Now through 2018 to ’20. Excellent. About $150.
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An overall satisfying, even in some instances great group of pinot noir wines, examples touching the winemaking borders limits of California, from Anderson Valley in the north to Santa Maria Valley in the south. Different interpretations, assuredly, diverse approaches to the notoriously difficult grape, but all feeling authentic and legitimate, though my taste runs to the more refined and elegant; and, blessedly, though the use of oak, of course, varies, none of these is burdened with or buried by too much wood. As usual in the Friday Wine Sips, I dispense with the minutiae of technical, historical and geographical data in order to deliver to my readers incisive and provocative yet thoughtful reviews, though I admit that a couple of these run a tad longer than I intend for this space, but then, come on, it’s pinot noir I’m writing about. With one exception, these were samples for review. The order is alphabetical. I’m posting this fairly late at night, but it’s still Friday in the USA.

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Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir 2009, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County. 14.4% alc. Elegant and sophisticated at first, but becomes more intense and concentrated, a real mouthful of smoky black cherry and rhubarb, violets and lilac, hints of briers and brambles, sassafras, roots and moss, i.e., quite earthy and then quite spicy; deeply satiny texture, lithe and supple too, flows coolly through the mouth; but you feel the tug of oak from mid-palate through the finish. For those who like a muscular pinot noir. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $35.
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Foley Rancho Santa Rosa Pinot Noir 2009, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey. 14.3% alc. Medium ruby color with a tinge of magenta; incredible perfume: beet-root and root beer, rose hips and strawberry leaf, violets and sandalwood, black cherry and red currants, and then a gentle surge of austerity in brambles and forest floor and finely-honed graphite; in the mouth, more serious than you might think, deeply earthy, multi-dimensioned, yet suave, sleek, supple, satiny; black tea with cloves and cinnamon, orange zest; black and red fruit flavors, a beautifully burnished, balanced, transparent finish. Beautiful. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $40.
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Foursight “Zero” Pinot Noir 2009, Charles Vineyard, Anderson Valley, Mendocino. 13.5% alc. “Zero” does not mean no oak but second-year and older barrels. Gosh, what a lovely gentle delicate yet darkly radiant sifting of finely-meshed, cloud-like tannins; ripe and slightly macerated red currants, plums and mulberries; earthy briers, brambles and leather; and baskets of dried flowers and spices. A model of pinot noir purity and intensity. Perfect with a roasted chicken; I could drink it every day. 360 cases and Worth a Search. Excellent. About $38.
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Foursight Charles Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009, Anderson Valley, Mendocino. 13.9 % alc. So, how is the “regular” Foursight Pinot Noir ’09 different from its stablemate mentioned above? This is also quite alluring and exhibits similar purity and intensity of expression and character; fruit falls into the range of red and black cherries and cranberries with more emphasis on spice than flowers and just a haze of smoky (but not toasty) oak. As with the previous wine, balance and integration of all elements feel inextricable, tightly woven yet generous and expansive, a touch lithe and sinewy yet with a seductive satiny drape. Now through 2015 or ’16. 405 cases and also Worth a Search. Excellent. About $46.
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MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir 2009, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey. 14.5% alc. Riveting purity and intensity; vivid yet somehow transparent or at least infinitely delicate black cherry and mulberry scents and flavors highlighted by subtle notes of sassafras and lightly toasted Asian spices; sleek, supple and a little spare, with flavors partaking more of plums as moments pass; a real dreamboat of a pinot noir with an understanding of its darker nature. Now through 2013 or ’14. 600 six-pack cases produced. Excellent. About $35.
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MacMurray Ranch Winemaker’s Block Selection Pinot Noir 2009, Russian River Valley. 14.5% alc. Loads of presence and tone yet ineffable balance and integration; lots going on, plums and more plums, with black and red cherries and hints of mulberry and rhubarb, undertones of cola and cloves, but it doesn’t feel fussy or overdone, all is smooth and finely-meshed; dense texture, satin transmuting to velvet but held in check by the ballast of earthy underbrush and a bit of foresty austerity. I like rather more reticence in pinot noir (as in the previous wine and the two Foursights), but this reveals thoughtful wine-making. Now through 2014 to ’16. Production was 600 six-pack cases. Excellent. About $60.
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