The tasting was a great success and nearly all of the wines were wonderful (two were corked unfortunately, one more than we “deserved” given industry rates). As should be expected with a field selected mainly from the Russian River Valley, the appellation dominated the tasting. There were some surprising results from the tasting however, with a wine that most of us had never heard of taking the top spot.
The big surprise, the ’01 D’Agostini Russian River Pinot, which can be purchased online for only $10.00 a bottle, was the consensus top pick (but didn’t make my top 5).
Next was my personal favorite, Moshin’s Lot 4, which sadly is now sold out. This was followed by the ’00 Dehlinger Goldridge Vineyard. All three of these wines were showing great, and coupled well defined red fruit (think cherry and strawberry jam) with sweet, round tannins and vibrant, but not jarring acidity. The Moshin also had a candied rose/violet floral nose and extremely light color that made it stand out from the crowd.
Some other interesting notes from the tasting:
- The most expensive wine in the tasting, the ’02 Rochioli Three Corner Vineyard ($150.00), didn’t make the top 5. Couple this with the $10.00/bottle D’Agostini showing very well, and it seems in this case that you don’t have to spend very much to get delicious, drinkable Pinot.
- My second favorite wine (5th overall), the ’03 Ketelsen Tudor House Reserve, is made by John Pepe of Wine Studio One, the guy helping me design Capozzi Winery.
- Some big hitters placed in the bottom third of our taster’s preferences like Sea Smoke (though one taster loved it), Gary Farrell, and the ’00 Dehlinger’s Estate blend.
- Two bottles were clearly corked: the ’01 Joseph Swan Trenton Estate and the ’02 Robledo. Bummer.
A great time was had by all, the food was top notch and paired well with all the Pinot, and the weather was absolutely beautiful at a perfect 73 with a slight wind. Be sure to click on the photo above for more pictures of the event.
Happy Independence Day!
The Complete List (in order of preference):
D’Agostini
Moshin Lot 4
Dehlinger Goldridge Vineyard
Moshin 115 Clone
Tudor House Reserve
Rochioli Three Corners Vineyard
Merry Edwards
Rochioli Estate
Marimar Torres
Harrington
Rochioli Special Cuvee
Dutton Goldfield
Halleck
Holdredge
Sea Smoke
Gary Farrell
Dehlinger Estate
Robledo (corked)
Joseph Swan (corked)
huevos con vino » Blog Archive » Smoke on the water…but the company wasn’t bad
4 years ago
[...] Now, the interesting thing about this 2004 Sea Smoke Botella is how low it was rated at this comparative tasting event. I really like what I’ve read at Josh’s blog so far, so I am very excited to hear that he and some other folks rated this exact same wine 15th out of 17 drinkable Pinot Noirs. Granted, they came from different regions in California, and from different vintages, but still…that tells me I have a lot of other Pinot Noir to try! I am excited to see what, for example, a 2001 D’Agostini tastes like, particularly at $10/bottle. Wow. I’d love to see a repeat of that taste test with a Domaine Drouhin Laurène and a Radio-Coteau La Neblina thrown in just to confuse the issue a bit. [...]
Alex
4 years ago
Hey Josh, you list the consensus favorites, but what did your personal list look like? I’m curious because we seem to have similar taste in Pinot Noir and I want to know how your list differs from the consensus list. How many total tasters were there, by the way?
Josh
4 years ago
Hey Alex,
Here are my personal rankings. I broke them up into tiers. Really all the wines were good, and the first three groups were all very good. Choosing between a bunch of wines this good is a little silly, but it is fun and helps you figure out what type of style you’re really after. Hope this helps a little.
The Botella is a very good wine for the price. Some folks who tasted it (there were 7) thought it was a little heavy on the tannins. I got quite a bit of oak on the nose, which just isn’t something I look for in a pinot. I like the tell-tale signs of oak, like vanilla, when it is well integrated, but in this case I thought is was a little too forward.
Moshin Lot 4
Tudor House Reserve
Dehlinger Goldridge
Moshin 115 Clone
Harrington
Merry Edwards
Rochioli Estate
Sea Smoke Botella
D’Agostini
Rochioli Three Corner
Marimar Torres
Rochioli Special Cuvee
Halleck
Gary Farrell
Dutton Goldfield
Dehlinger Estate
Holdredge
The corked wines
Alex
4 years ago
Thanks very much for the clarification! I see what you’re saying about the Botella; were the wines decanted first? I know this wine evolved quite a bit after being decanted for a while when I tried it. Of course, I assume you know how to run a proper wine tasting, so I’m sure you had leaded crystal decanters, white gloves, etc., etc. *)
Do you know how the 2004 Moshin Pinots stack up against the 2003 vintage? Are they comparable? The 2003 vintage is sold out…and now I need to find Tudor House Reserve somewhere!
Josh
4 years ago
Hey Alex,
We let the wines breathe for a few hours, but no, no decanting and definitely no white gloves
The 04 Moshin Lot 4 is nice, but it is a bigger wine with some darker fruit and less of the floral nose that the 03 had in spades. Still very good though.
And if you\’d like to buy a bottle or two of the 02 Tudor House just give Linda a call at 707-546-0968 or email her jcketel@hotmail.com. Only 50 cases left, so get some while you can.
The wine is reasonably priced at around 30 bucks a bottle. It\’s made with the newer Dijon clones (777 and 667) so its nice and fruit forward. Another tip from Linda is to let it breathe a bit before drinking.
Let me know how you like it!
Alex
4 years ago
Thanks, Josh! I e-mailed Linda so we’ll see if she’s got any of that wine left. I’ve tried a Domaine Serene Pinot Noir that used at least the 777 Dijon clone, but I remain enough of a novice that I couldn’t tell you the difference between the 777 and the 667…*)
huevos con vino » Blog Archive » Buying some Ketelsen Pinot Noir
4 years ago
[...] I see a similarity in the wine industry. One of the most appealing aspects of becoming a wine connoisseur is the ability to interact with small-scale producers who may never get their bottles onto the shelves of a store. I think that’s part of the allure for me, though: I know a guy who knows a guy who makes great wine, the kind of wine that beats Sea Smoke Botella in a tasting. [...]
huevos con vino » Blog Archive » Attack of the Clones
3 years ago
[...] For example, I expect to try some of my Ketelsen Tudor House Reserve tonight, and as Josh from Pinotblogger tells me, that wine was made from Dijon clones 777 and 667. I guess I’ll really know what this means, with regard to the flavor of the resulting wine, soon enough. [...]