cali pinots from light to heavy-a list?

i would love to see a list of california pinots that refers to their size, meaning from those more burgundian to those that could pass for syrah. i would guess that littorai, ceritas, anthill, and rhys would be at one end while kistler, kb, aubert, marcassin et al would be at the other. i’d love to have the middle filled in a bit so that when i go to a restaurant with a decent list and without a decent somm, i’ve got some chance of predicting what kind of wine i’m going to get.
cheers

oh god, this list is going to be allllllllllllll over the place.

This

I’d put River-Marie in the middle. I’d put Cabot Anderson County as lighter, their Nash is in the middle. Loring is fuller bodied, Mount Eden is lghter, Pisoni is on the border of medium to fuller bodied. Kutch is in the middle but closer to light. Littorai is on the light/medium border. Rochioli is in the middle.

Roar in the middle, tending towards riper fruit. Williams-Selyem middle, but pretty much all over the place. Sojourn in the middle, tending towards lighter. Agree with most of the above.

I’ll put Copain and Arnot-Roberts on the other side of Rhys, Littorai and put Roar/Lucia/Pisoni not quite as far in the other direction as Kistler, KB etc.

Seasmoke in the middle/bigger in the last few years, bevans on the bigger side, hartfort court in the bigger side, aston bigger loring bigger, radio coteau smack in the middle, walter hansel middle/bigger, belle glos middle, donum middle/bigger, Siduri middle/bigger, martinelli middle, brewer clifton bigger, sojourn middle…agree with above
Disclaimer: these are all generalizations and to my palate. There are always vintage and vineyard exceptions for example the 2004 walter hansel north slope was a beast. Same for some roars and seasmokes.

Put Meomi on the far right side of “syrah like”. I can’t speak to older Kistlers but the ones from the last few years have been toned down.

Put Meomi on the far right side of “syrah like”. I can’t speak to older Kistlers but the ones from the last few years have been toned down.

Doesn’t get much bigger than Aubert

I have always objected to the binary or linear view of wines in these fashions – Barolo from traditional to modern, natural wine to interventionist wine, etc. I think wine is far more complex and interesting than can be put into one of two camps, or plotted along a linear spectrum, and thinking of them in those terms may limit your ability to appreciate all the different characters of each wine.

But I won’t go off any further into a rant about that, and I do know generally what you’re asking. Here are pinots that I think are very good that are somewhat in a middle/compromise style, with riper fruit that will be a hit with non-geeks but also complexity and balance that an open-minded wine enthusiast will appreciate.

Dehlinger
Sojourn
Sea Smoke Southing (I know others will disagree, but I would put them here, particularly 2007+)
Anthill Farms (the Sonoma pinots in particular for this purpose)
Big Basin (though towards the light side of the spectrum)
Scherrer
Cabot
Gary Farrell
Rochioli
Ampelos

I’m sure I’m forgetting lots of other good options.

On the lighter side:
Copain
Ceritas
Arnot-Roberts
Littorai (straddling just a bit)
Rhys (straddling just a bit)
Mid-weights
Mount Eden (straddling just a bit)
Big Basin (straddling just a bit)
Windy Oaks (straddling just a bit)
Siduri
Scherrer
Dehlinger
Williams Selyem
Rivers Marie
Rochioli
Lucia/Pisoni (straddling just a bit on the richer side)

I know he’s asking for the middle, but one of the A-listers on the “lighter side” both in terms of quality and value should be Arcadian.

I think they were a bit ahead of their time in the modern wave of IPOB-type producers, and they tend to get overlooked in the rush to the hot new names. Plus, they’ve been around long enough that the claims of the wines’ ageability can now be substantiated – chardonnays and pinots from their first vintages in 1996-2001 are still improving and clearly have long lives ahead.

I’m a big fan of the welterweights and middle-weights!

Ah, the Sugar Ray Robinsons of the wine world.

Lightweight: Arcadian,
Mid: Rivers Marie, Kutch
Heavy:KB, Aubert

Just my $.02 :slight_smile:

Agreed for the most part with Beau above but think we should add a Light Mid and Mid heavy class.
It also depends on Vineyard and Vintage, to a degree

I am struggling with this as I try to adjust my palate and figure out exactly what I like. I don’t understand why the original poster uses burgundy as the touchstone for light as, in my little experience, every good burg I’ve had (and these are all PC not GC level) has serious body and depth and richness and not just a pretty nose. I would love to know which of these Cali pinots has a comparable richness, tannic backbone and body to a PC Gevrey-Chambertin or even Vosne-Romanee. The fruit and the acid I’m much less concerned about. Help!

I’d put Loring squarely on one end of this spectrum.