Official theme song

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

2005 Siduri Russian River Valley Pinot Noir


This one ran us $27, which is in our “special occasion” range...what’s the occasion? Well, we’ve both decided a need to slow down on this blog, wine consumption, and caloric intake.

I’ve said this before...and I’ve tried it before. One excellent plan was to go out and fill the wine rack with $20+ bottles of wines since I refuse to open those on a whim....of course that only led me to stop at the grocery store on the way home every night and pick up bottles of things like “Andre Champagne.” The thing that pushed me over the edge was trying on my wedding suit (which was less than two years ago) only to find it fit like something from when I was twelve...and I wasn’t exactly thin at the ceremony.

This means that the number of reviews will go down to about once a week, they will also become far more positive as I’ll insist on only things we’ve tried and enjoyed at tastings or those that came with strong praise from reliable sources.

So, here we are. I recently read an article, I believe in Wine Spectator, about the Russian River Valley being the strongest region for Pinot Noir in the US so I grabbed the most affordable bottle from the region I could find...and it was still nearly thirty bucks.

The nose is funky, earthy, and a bit musty with perhaps a hint of raspberry...imagine a forest with wild berries glistening in the morning dew. (This blog is getting better already, eh?)

The first few sips were a bit harsh, but with a bit of air it eased up. Lots of earth and funk–tobacco, maybe smoke?--with just the slightest hint of green. Some raspberry and cherry for fruit and plenty of acid. My advice is to give it at least an hour of air (or some time in the cellar I suppose).

The finish has a sassafrasy sort of taste

The greenness hurts my overall opinion, but sadly Pinot Noir is going up in price, especially from highly sought after areas like this. You can certainly do worse. I look forward to trying more Pinot Noir from this area to compare.

No comments: