No doubt, the movie Sideways did a lot to bolster the sales of Pinot a few years ago and while I’m not at all a fan of the movie’s impact on wine sales (it shows we as a culture are too easily talked into what to drink), I do like a good pinot.

To wine fans around the world, Burgundy will always remain the undisputed Pinot king as the vineyards there and the way they’ve been made into world-class wines far superceeds even the very existence of our great nation. When I think of good American Pinot, I’m drawn to areas like the Willamette Valley in Oregon as well as California’s Central Coast region – so it was a no-brainer for me to match up a couple of different Pinot’s that arrived in the past couple of weeks.

I also realize that no matter what the outcome of this review, that I’ll end-up pissing-off either the new-world or old-world folks – but frankly, I don’t care. I’m all about the wine, regardless of where it came from and you should be as well.

2007 Bouchaine Pinot Noir – Carneros – W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Technical Data:

• Appellation: Carneros
• Varietal: Pinot Noir
• Alcohol: 14.1%
• Maturation: 10 to 11 months in French and Hungarian oak barrels, approximately 30% new
• Clones include: Dijon, Pommard and Swan Selection
• Price: $30

Nose: Nose: Cherries, vanilla, cranberry, wild game and ink.

Taste: Nice attack of blueberries, cherries and cranberry along with dots of vanila seeds on the front palate with a smooth, full-bodied transition into the mid-palate. Good hints of dirt and clay are here in the mid-area along with a nice touch of cedar. The finish is quite long – and good – this wine is a great representation of how good some of the Pinot’s are out of California.