2011 Love and Squalor Pinot Noir Williamette Valley

This small production Oregon pinot runs about $22/bottle. It's a prime example of why I am such a fan of Oregon pinot in general. There are so many excellent wines coming out of the Williamette Valley area, from producers both large and small. This particular wine is light bodied and ready to drink now. It has such a fresh and luscious aroma of cherries with a touch of strawberrry. Light on the palette and totally delicious, with more ripe cherry and some spice notes on the finish. It was excellent paired with mushroom risotto.

2011 Fracture (from Orin Swift)

This French grenache is from the noted American winemaker, Dave Phinney, who is perhaps most famous as the creator of the popular zinfandel blend “The Prisoner”. Fracture is one of Phinney’s new concoctions and is widely available. I bought it at the Kroger in my neighborhood as a test bottle because I had read a positive review and because I really liked The Prisoner. I paid $25. I really enjoyed this wine. It is a deep, rich, full-bodied red with aromas and flavors that are (to me) hard to pin down but entirely pleasant. It has an earthy, almost smoky aroma with not much discernible fruit. The flavors are just as earthy and voluptuous, with a noticeable chocolate/cocoa touch at the end. It is a very smooth, easy drinking wine with just enough tannin to give it some heft. The earthiness paired wonderfully with the grilled steak I had it with. Would be great with most any grilled meat. All in all, a very enjoyable, not-too-serious red wine.

2011 Evening Land pinot noir Willamette Valley (Blue Label)

Quite a while back I had tried a previous vintage of this wine (the 2009, I think) at a restaurant and was unimpressed. To be fair, my view was likely altered by having paid the 3x mark-up. In the time since this I have basically steered clear of Evening Land’s entry level blue label pinot noir in favor of the many other excellent Oregon pinots in this similar price range. But recently I received a bottle of the 2011 in my wine club shipment and so I had the opportunity to give it another go. This time, drinking it in the comfort of my own home, I had a very different experience. I found this 2011 version to be a very solid effort and a quite enjoyable wine. Not earth-shattering or breaking any new pinot noir ground, but still a very well-made pinot with flavor and aroma profiles consist with the Oregon style. Lots of blueberry and red cherry on the nose with cherry-berry pie flavors and some noticeable spicy notes at the end. It has a nice weight – a bit heavier than anticipated – with good overall balance. I paid $27 for this wine and, at this price, I would give this a “thumbs-up” for overall value. Try a sip right after opening, but give it a half-hour in the decanter for greater depth.

2011 Hedgeline Pinot Gris

Hedgeline is a Kroger house brand. It is their house brand focused on wines from OR and WA. As I drink my fair share of Oregon wines, both red and white, I was anxious to try this one. The price point (about $11) is compelling for this varietal and origination. I found this wine to be entirely pleasant and very consistent with my expectations for an Oregon pinot gris. Light bodied with a nice balance of acidity and fruit. Aromas of tart apple and tropical fruit, with flavors of pear and a pleasant minerality at the end. For a nice, light sipping wine or pairing with a salad and roast chicken, this wine is good buy.

2009 Sea Smoke pinot noir Southing

For Christmas a close friend, and fellow wine lover, gave me a bottle of 2009 Sea Smoke Southing pinot noir. Aside from being a very nice gift to receive, this was also a delicious wine to drink. As soon as we popped the cork and poured the first glass, the wonderful aromas emerged and just kept coming in layers as it spent more time in the glass. It has a nice wet soil aroma blending with tart cherries. It is medium-bodied, somewhat heavy for a pinot but a nice, potent mouth feel with more of a dried cherry flavor rather than tart fresh cherries. Also has a nice peppery bite at the end. Overall, we had mixed reviews of this wine around the table but I found it to be delicious and totally enjoyable, although it needed a bit of time in the glass to fully emerge.

2006 Hall cabernet Napa Valley

Back in 2010 I picked up three bottles of the highly-rated 2006 Hall Cabernet Napa Valley (WS 94 points). At the time I was not familiar with Hall, nor had I tried this wine, but I had read about in Wine Spectator and my friendly neighborhood wine merchant was very high on this wine. So I bowed to the sales pressure, paying $35/btl at the time. Last week I finally pulled a bottle from the cellar to have with our grilled steak dinner. Wow! What a terrific wine. It has prominent cocoa/mocha aromas and just smells absolutely succulent. It has layers of flavors with dried cherry and dusty earth most prominent, giving way to a lingering licorice essence at the end. One of the best cabs I’ve had in a long time. Though not quite as good as Plumpjack (my personal favorite cabernet), this is nonetheless a pretty darn good cab. And, considering I only paid $35, it is all the more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I now have only two bottles of this left in the cellar. I will try to save them but it will be difficult to restrain myself now that I know how good this wine is.

2012 North by Northwest chardonnay H3

Though I don’t generally drink a lot of chardonnay, here is another surprisingly good one that I tried recently. I say “surprisingly” good only because, for the price, I did not expect too much from this wine. On the other hand, I must say that I have had consistently good luck with chardonnays (and most white wines in general) I’ve tried in recent months from the Pacific northwest. This particular wine was an impulse buy on a recent trip to one of my favorite local wine shops, Chris Hinton’s The Wine Store (http://www.thewinestoreinc.com/new_site/). This chardonnay, from Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills AVA, runs about $13/bottle and is a delightfully fresh young white with good overall balance and a nice, crisp acidity to counter the prominent chardonnay character. Aromas of lemon curd and vanilla wafers waft from the glass, with the vanilla staying nicely prominent throughout. I’d be pleased to serve this wine to any of my chard-loving friends. Definitely worth the modest price.