Despite its spike in popularity over the last several years, Pinot Noir remains rather uncommon here in the Napa Valley. With the exception of the Carneros District — which is the coolest and southern-most region in the Napa Valley — Pinot Noir proves ill-suited for our warm Mediterranean climate. But even if this fickle Burgundian varietal could somehow become more adaptable to Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon has long staked its claim here in the valley, and no other varietal can ever muster a challenge for the crown. Since capturing the world’s attention with the Judgment of Paris in 1976, not [... read more ...]
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The Culinary Timeline is a side-project that I've been working on since October. I'm hoping to have most of it complete by the end of January, with any luck. Until then, updates around here will be weekly, rather than twice weekly. Do stay tuned. • • •
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With the afterglow of last Tuesday night finally starting to fade, I still need to acknowledge the preamble to the evening, which was a blind tasting of 2007 California Pinot Noir. I had been anticipating this tasting for quite some time, and I had also exhibited tremendous patience in the process: Back in March 2009, I had eagerly purchased Pinot Noir allocations from Kosta Browne and Chasseur, having finally earned a coveted spot on their respective mailing lists (these unclaimed allocations were the function of a sputtering U.S. economy, no doubt). At the time, slipping behind the velvet rope [... read more ...] It almost feels as though I’m repeating myself, but time truly flies, and looking back among my past blog entries, I hadn’t been wine tasting at Unti Vineyards or Papapietro Perry since last summer, and I did need to catch up with their most recent vintages. So here we go again. Another dissertation on the wonders of Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley, although I plan to keep this one short, in order to complement my ever-decreasing attention span. Typically, I would also fit Ridge Vineyards into this same discussion, but I got a late start over to Sonoma last week, [... read more ...] The weather finally became warm enough to uncork a 2008 Merry Edwards Russian River Sauvignon Blanc, which I had been hoarding for what seems like an entire year now. It may very well have been that long, considering the 2009 Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc is already out on the market, and I did acquire the 2008 vintage very early during its release. Anyhow, as the 2008 Merry Edwards approaches its second full year of age this fall, it was the perfect time to finally take a peek, and see what my remaining stash could offer in the future. [... read more ...] I just placed my order for the 2007 releases of Chasseur Pinot Noir, thanks to a friend who has been on their mailing list for quite some time. I’m looking forward to putting some of these wines alongside the wines of some other Russian River and Sonoma Coast producers, hopefully in a blind tasting. I’m not quite sure when this event will ultimately happen — I do want to give these wines a little bit of time in the bottle — so it should probably be at least a year away, maybe even a couple of years. For me, [... read more ...] I just received my allocation of 2007 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, having finally earned a coveted spot on their mailing list during these tough economic times. Well, I should amend that statement: I earned a spot on their provisional list, which means that I’m entitled to some left-overs. I now have a couple bottles each of their 2007 Russian River Pinot and their 2007 Sonoma Coast Pinot. I’m tempted to pop one open and see how it tastes, but I’m going to give these wines some time to settle back into place. Eventually, however, I will open one of [... read more ...] Given the choice between a glass of Chardonnay and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, I’m liable to choose the latter about nine times out of ten. I have found that among wine drinkers, this decision tends to be pretty divisive: people will usually form a distinct preference between these two white wines, kind of like an Elvis-versus-The Beatles debate. For me, I just prefer the acidity and the aroma of Sauv Blanc, and I somehow find Chardonnay less intriguing on the palate (I also find Elvis less intriguing than the Fab Four, for what it’s worth).
With friends coming into town this week, it’s safe to say that I’ll be knee-deep in the Napa Valley food-and-wine experience for the next couple of days. I’ve got a calendar full of tasting appointments on the horizon, including visits to Paradigm, Nickel & Nickel, Cardinale, and Revana. When I woke up this morning, I decided that I might as well go “all in” for the week, so I made an impromptu visit to Rochioli Vineyards in Sonoma this afternoon. Perched atop 162 acres of prime Russian River Valley real estate, the Rochioli tasting room [... read more ...] |
 
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© 2012 The Accidental Wino |
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