Newbie Pinot Noir Recommendations

Hey All,

Im a newbie in the grand scheme of all things wine. Looking to expand my horizon when it comes to pinot noir. Some of the Oregon Pinot Noirs Ive been drinking that I really enjoy include many from Patricia Green, Arterberry Marsh Dundee Hills, Stoller, Adelsheim and Domaine Drouhin to name a few. Im looking for suggestions in the $20-$50 range and I am open to wines outside the Williamette Valley. Ive enjoyed Failla, Calera, Emeritus Hallberg Ranch (RRV) and few others from Sonoma as well.

Any suggestions or insight into what I should explore next are much appreciated.

Vincent

Goodfellow

Try to track down some Arcadian (CA)

Kelley Fox

Franny Beck

EIEIO

Just for starters…

You’ve got a great start.
Try Cristom also.

And then…Burgundy

Lucien Muzard & Fils Maranges hits the spot for an affordable intro to Burgundy IMO. A bit on the brighter side rather than the earthy side, but delicious.

Edit: Just checked and this is in regard to the 2019 vintage. It’s pretty available here in CO, but I’m not seeing many listings elsewhere on W-S.

Talk about a minefield of a question.

Well, it’s a long weekend. We have time.

Well that`s why I prefaced it with “newbie.”

I appreciate all the recommendations so far. I honestly have been waiting for BerserkerDay to load up on some Goodfellow and Franny Beck wines. I will also have to check out some Burgundy (appreciate the recommendation Jeff, I will ask my local wine shop if they have it or can get it).

Given your interest in some Oregon producers, I may suggest participating in Berserker Day in a couple months as there are likely to be several producers offering good deals on sample packs of their wines.

In addition to the other recommendations:

Evesham Wood
McKinlay (vineyard designates and special selection)
Brickhouse
Walter Scott
Belle Pente
J. K. Carriere
Violin
Loop de Loop
Trathan Hall
Hundred Suns
Twill
Johan
Bethel Heights
Crowley

Rather than wait until Berseker Day go check out the Newbie Palooza forum from last week and see if any of those wines interest you. If they do shoot them a note to see if you can still get the deal.

I wrote up notes for Project M and if you like Patricia Green you’d probably like those wines.

Dave will guide you through Berserkerday.

Tell us the style you seem to like, or are you simply interested in the broad range of Pinot styles?

Hirsch ‘San Andreas Fault’ Estate Pinot Noir

What an eye-opening moment that was for me when I first tasted that one.

Old school wineries like Eyrie, Bethel Heights and St Innocent are consistently well made. A new wine maker making really good wine is Martin Woods.

Vincent was my first thought. Great value.

Ghostwriter Ghostwriter | The Hobo Wine Company

I have been buying Loring pinots off and on since the 2004 vintage and each year I find that they are a bit better than the year before. We just had a 2018 a few weeks ago and it was excellent. I can’t really talk style or compare them with Oregon pinots very much (I’m not a big pinot guy), except to say that they are dialed back from Kosta Browne and Aubert and they are much more approachable young than Burgundy. Many or all of them are now under screw cap, which scares some people away but helps maintain freshness and bright flavors without being overly acidic. AND they are available in your price range.

Sonoma: Sojourn

Gaps Crown, Sangiacomo, Riddle Vineyards are some of my favorites from them. They don’t need a lot of age to start drinking well but have decent complexity. Super friendly and great customer service as well.

They participate in Berserker day and usually have some great deals. When I first got into them I gave them a call and they were able to wrangle up a few older bottles for me to get going so I didn’t have to start drinking their new ones right away.

Dehlinger, Scherrer, and Anthill Farms are all worth sampling.

As a Pinot Newbie, it’s probably good for Justin to try some heavy duty Cali Pinots just to learn about styles. KB and Aubert aren’t in his price range. I’ve never had one that resembled (restraint-wise) any of the Pinots he mentioned. Loring is not too far behind IMHO, with some exceptions. I remember some pretty competitive Berserker Day pricing so some Loring experimentation would be educational.

The problem with Berserker Day is that it overheats your credit card. If bang for the buck is the goal (based on his list), do not miss Goodfellow and Vincent. Keep an eye out for Violin and Kelley Fox. Otherwise, Marcus’s list is very solid.

RT

I’ll second Franny Beck, which I discovered here. Delicious wine. Incredible value.