Confessions of a Wino

My world tour of Pinot Noirs was starting to look a bit like the baseball world series in reverse.  In other words I had covered almost every territory except the US.  I even likened Pinot Noir to a French actress (Brigitte Bardot – sexy, flirtatious, but unreliable, and a little bonkers) and insulted American actress, Barbra Streisand who I compared to a Chenin Blanc hmmmm….

As I stand here touching my toes, humbly awaiting transatlantic cyber-flagellation, I offer, in my defence, a review of a PN from about the most famous of US sources – Oregon.

I decided to go straight for a decent bottle and took Thea’s advice on this one from Williamette Valley.  I found Lemelson Vineyards Thea’s Selection Pinot Noir 2005 at The Wine Society for a not insignificant £19.00.  It was worth the money.

I almost got high on the smell which was, on opening, not unlike magic mushroom stew.  The taste is more reminiscent of a chicken run plastered with raspberry and strawberry coulis.  At 13.5% alcohol, this is typical Pinot Noir and very old world in style.  Shut your eyes and you could be drinking a cheeky little Burgundy.

The best American wine I have tasted in a long while.

For US buyers I found it at Wine Access for $29.99, and the 2006 at Wine Library at a similar price.  As you might expect, the US prices represent better value at current exchange rates…

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pm and is filed under USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.