2011 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

In general I avoid the fruit bomb Pinots coming out of California, but there are a few CA regions that I think serve Pinot Noir really well, expressing the fruit cleanly and simply, without overpowering the delicate grape with excess wood or over extraction. Sonoma Coast is one of the regions.

With Pinot Noir, you seem to get what you pay for. When I started drinking Pinot, I kept trying “value” wines and finding them completely undrinkable. The Pinot Noir grape itself is delicate, and making good wine from Pinot is in many ways more difficult than other varietals. That is not to say it is impossible to find affordable Pinot Noir, but is does seem to be a challenge. For tonight’s La Crema, cherry licorice was the scent and the flavor most prevalent in the wine. The color was a lovely purpley-red and the wine had nice body and balance. A very tasty wine indeed, and would be a knockout at less that $20. For the $25 paid for it, it lacked complexity compared to what else is available for the price.