[wine] Alex Valley Pinot

Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Jon BonnéChronicle Wine Editor Sunday, September 20, 2009 2007 Black Kite Redwoods' Edge Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2007 Breggo Savoy Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2006 Chronicle Cerise Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2007 Copain Tous Ensemble Anderson Valley Pinot Noir More... Anderson Valley was once a quiet, rustic haven, shut to outsiders but for a long, winding low road and a vertiginous, winding high road. In the 1800s, the local Boontling dialect was invoked to confound outsiders. A century later, the valley's foggy, redwood-lined slopes became a magnet for lovers of a subtler style of Pinot Noir. The outside world has arrived in more ways than one. That Pinot style has been shifting for at least the past five years. As big Pinot names have turned their gaze north to Mendocino, the wines have gotten bigger and oakier, alcohol levels have crept higher, and fruit flavors have shifted from red to black. Yet in our latest tasting of Mendocino County Pinots, with Anderson Valley in the leading role, we seem to have discovered a detente of sorts. Many wines are indeed bigger. More than a few showed the same problems that have hit Pinot regions like Santa Barbara - an excess of oak, alcohol and ripeness that turns Pinot's near-magic transparency into something gloppy. The more ambitious the pricing - this time it topped out around $75 - the more likely the glop. To consider a lineup of more than 50 wines, I was joined by Eric Railsback, one of the sommeliers at RN74 in San Francisco, who previously worked in Los Angeles at Osteria Mozza and Gordon Ramsay's The London. A superb 2007 vintage offered the chance for greatness, and our best luck came with the growing number of single-vineyard bottlings emerging from Anderson Valley. When ripeness was handled with skill (and these are wines that can approach 15 percent alcohol), we found exceptional efforts that, if not inexpensive, will provide great pleasure now or after a few years of aging. Think gift-worthy. That successful focus on site was rewarding to see. California Pinot has become cluttered by vineyard designates, but our Anderson Valley lineup made a strong case for the practice. We witnessed multiple interpretations of some well-known sites: Ferrington, Toulouse, Savoy. Rather than being a fetishization of place, these have legitimately earned their stripes. There was less success with the blended wines, often marked simply as Anderson Valley. Along with fame has come a handful of wines made on a larger scale - up to 15,000 cases - that can top $50. For a once-low-key place, these are wines seemingly made for (and by) what in Boontling jargon might be called the "high-pockety." Mercifully, some familiar names like Navarro and Copain still enjoy success with their larger-scale bottlings, with reasonable prices. They uphold Anderson Valley's good name. So do newer names like Boonville's Breggo Cellars (Boontling for "sheep"), Healdsburg-based James MacPhail and Jason Drew. Drew, with his wife, Molly, runs a tiny operation in the seaside hamlet of Elk, due west of the valley. He produces increasingly compelling Pinots under 14 percent alcohol, including his Fog Eater blend (Boontling again) and a new effort from the Monument Tree vineyard in the valley's northern "deep end." Their success signals Anderson Valley's forward potential. Its cloak of obscurity may be gone, but its ability to produce deep, edgy Pinot Noir hasn't wavered. 2007 Black Kite Redwoods' Edge Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($52) The first scent of an ever-evolving nose is evocatively char-tinged, like a burning field at harvest, leading to toasted baking spices. It's a shape-shifter, always changing, with very ripe fruit flavors but a masterful approach. 2007 Breggo Savoy Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($55) Douglas Ian Stewart and consultant Ryan Hodgins have found a rewarding middle-ground style for Stewart's Boonville winery. There's lots of ripe fruit but persistent brightness. Leathery and muscular, with a core of boysenberry and distinct mineral weight. 2006 Chronicle Cerise Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($48) OK, I admit - we like the name. But this effort sourced from a south-facing site above Boonville has not only a great fruit pedigree but also the skilled hand of Littorai's Ted Lemon making the wine. The ripe cherry flavors have an invigorating tension, edged by complex aromas: pine cone, sweet cherry, fresh flowers and marmalade. 2007 Copain Tous Ensemble Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($30) Wells Guthrie's blend includes fruit from the Cerise, Monument Tree and Wentzel sites. Leafy, huckleberry-tinged high tones mix with a truffly earth undercurrent. A great example of the valley's subtler expression. 2007 Drew Fog Eater Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($42) A floral punch adds tension to bright flavors of shaved cherry ice and an intense dry-earth complexity. Drew's limited Monument Tree ($42) bottling took time to open but blossomed into sweet huckleberry and dense forest-floor scents. Both are momentous and cellar-worthy. 2007 Elke Donnelly Creek Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($34) Grower Mary Elke's home vineyard was in fine form in 2007, making for an affordable single-site effort. Full of vibrant moss-tinged strawberry, with soy and lavender accents and an orange-like twang. 2007 Foursight Clone 05 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($49) The Charles family has quickly left its imprint with its new label. They isolated fruit from their Pommard clone and gave it extra oak. The result is smoky and heady, with allspice and cocoa accents on a dark-fruited base. Finessed tannins make it immediately drinkable. 2006 Londer Paraboll Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($54) A supple take on Londer's often robust style, with notable oak presence but a generous dose of sweet, rich strawberry flavors. Very well done. 2007 MacPhail Toulouse Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($50) James MacPhail's Anderson Valley bottlings show that power doesn't mean sacrificing nuance. With 40 percent new oak, this one from a site in Philo is a fine example with its extraordinary nose: bergamot, fenugreek, forest-floor and damp soil, with rich black fruit flavors and a soft depth. Remarkably intriguing in its layers. The Ferrington ($60) is almost as dense and full of rich spice. 2006 Navarro Methode a l'Ancienne Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($29) This classic bottling harks back to Anderson Valley's more low-key style. Cinnamon-tinged black cherry gets depth from firm mineral notes and an orange-peel lift. Needs time. 2007 Phillips Hill Corby Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($40) Artist Toby Hill again finds a powerful Pinot expression, with bright red fruit highlights and a rich earthy tone giving it momentum. His 2007 Oppenlander ($42) is more brooding and meaty. 2007 Roessler Blue Jay Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($32) Roessler's Anderson Valley blend opens with slightly overripe fruit, but cola spice and an appealingly musky black cherry note provide a deep, luscious quality. 2006 Saint Gregory Mendocino County Pinot Noir ($19) Greg Graziano uses mostly Potter Valley fruit in this approachable effort, with a bit coming from the Yorkville Highlands. A bit sharp at first, but with solid red fruit flavors. E-mail Jon Bonnét jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com, go to sfgate.com/wine to read his blog, and follow him at @jbonne on Twitter. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/20/FDLV19NI03.DTL This article appeared on page K - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *