Paris, Pinot, etc.

I'm sure many of you have heard of the very famous 1976 Paris wine tasting that put California on the map as a truly world-class producer of wine. The anniversary was recently celebrated (notably in California) and some of the wines from the original tasting were tried again. In addition another tasting was done in Paris of recently produced wine, and California again did very well. Some of the articles published in 1976 are archived various places, including here.

NapaGeek attended one of the events in Sacramento and sent me a list of some of the wines that were offered. I'd be jealous, but I'm taller than he is which makes up for it. One of the wines he mentioned especially enjoying was a David Bruce estate Pinot Noir. David Bruce is located in the Santa Cruz area where a lot of great Pinot can be found (which is interesting, and something I need to look into). I noted the name and moved on to other topics, including exploring Pinot Grigio.

Loh and behold if I didn't see two different David Bruce Pinot's in the local Harris Teeter a week later. They had a Central Valley and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir for about $25 a bottle. I say "had" on purpose; I got the last bottle they had on my first visit. When I went back today to get dinner, I noticed that they had restocked but that the restock was also disappearing. The price is a little higher than I'm usually willing to pay at the grocery store but I made a couple of exceptions. I'm glad I did; the 2003 Sonoma was one of the most balanced Pinot Noir's I've had. It just reeked quality. While it wasn't the most memorable Pinot I've tasted, it was certainly a great pleasure to drink and I recommend it if you have the cash some evening.

As a side note you can buy the Sonoma Coast Pinot from the winery's online store. It costs more there and shipping will of course add to that. I browsed K&L Wine Merchants to see if they were selling it also; if you're looking for this wine I recommend getting it there. The price is competitive (cheapter than the 'Teeter) and they have several different ones in stock. K&L was recommended in an article in the New York Times so I assume they are reliable, but I've never ordered from them.

I have managed to try a few more Pinot Grigio's as well and I'm starting to develop an opinion on the grape. So far I've tried two from Italy and one from California and noted a distinct difference in style. The Italian wines were much lighter in body and lacked the "sizzling" flavor I noted from the Estancia. Of the Italians I far preferred the 2003 Zenato over the 2005 Ecco Domani. Not too suprising considering the Ecco is really a mass-market wine. The Zenato had distinctive apple and pear flavors and went down far too well. It was easy to drink too much of this wine. The Ecco was around $10, the Zenato about $14. I found a couple more Grigios at Best Cellars in Arlington which I'll try sooner or later and summarize here.

Lastly I had a glass of 2002 Barboursville Reserve Cabernet Franc at Harry's Tap Room in Clarendon the week past. I found it suprisingly good, very peppery and oaky with a nice body and fruit balance. I went looking for this in the store but didn't find an exact match. I'd be ecstatic if Virginia started producing high-quality wine reliably. My experiences so far have been disappointing with the occasional suprise (like the Barboursville). 'Teeter had the Cabernet Sauvignon so I gave that a try. It was decent, not great. For $15 I thought it was priced appropriately, maybe a bit high. I would have preferred to pay $12 for it.