BoozeReviews.net

It’s a Pinot Noir under $20 ($14.99 where I got it) that tastes like… well… Pinot Noir.  This is a good thing.  In fact, I tasted this stuff alongside a $30 bottle of Boxcar 06 Russian River Pinot and a $68 bottle of 05 Cumbre Hicks Vineyard Pinot (Santa Cruz Mountains, Vine Hill) and preferred the Adelaida, without question.  It’s well-balanced, crisp and full of fresh red fruit. And it tastes like a Pinot, not like a watered down cab, or a runny ass, or a sour, underripe Syrah, which is what a lot of cheap Pinots can end up tasting like.

With the economy in the US sucking a dried up and curdled hind tit, bargain wines are going to be coming back to the forefront in this industry, which could come perilously close to killing California’s fragile Pinot Noir industry.  California Pinot is, if I may say so, the best quality Pinot in the world (we’ll have to pretend that the rest of what I write here is now being shouted over an angry French mob).  But that quality comes at a price.  Growing and making top-notch Pinot in California requires  a whole lot of care, a nutload of time and vigilance, and a fair measure of luck.  Because the Pinot grape is such a fickle little wench, winemakers who are crazy enough and/or passionate enough to work with her have done so comfortable in the knowledge that if he/she has success with the grape, he/she can turn it over and sell it for top dollar to dumb winos like me.

No more.  At least, not now.  Despite not really feeling the sting (yet, knock on wood) of the downturn, I’ve scaled back my allocations from Cali’s boutique Pinot wineries because the over-hyped news media, in search of ratings, keeps scaring me into thinking that the world is coming to an end.  For the record:  I don’t belive them.  But… just in case….  I stored up 25 cases of my own homegrown Pinot so I’ll have some in the cellar if the shit hits the fan.  While my labor of love is sleeping for the winter in some nice French oak barrels, I’m out in the field in a maniacal search for drinkable “drinkers”.

Hence the Adelaida.

I have no idea how Adelaida was able to produce this wine for $14.99 retail.  At that price, I don’t want to know how beat up the fruit must have been when it came in, or what they had to do to it to bring it home as palatable as it is.  I don’t even want to know where the fruit came from, though I could likely find out by reading the bottle if it weren’t so far away (the kitchen).  I know nothing about the winery, and might just prefer to keep it so.  Then again, maybe they own the vineyard and because of the volume of red blends they produce, could throw this very nice Pinot into the mix without a whole lot of extra overhead.  I dunno.  I don’t care either.

I do know, however, that I’ve always liked Adelaida wines.  They’ve had a few in the past that I found to be very drinkable and food friendly– a certain vintage of Zin comes to mind, I think, though I can’t remember details because I drank the whole bottle to my head without a notebook handy.  But, when I saw they had a Pinot on the shelf at my favorite liquor store, I was excited because they’ve always produced fair dinkum drinkers.  That means solid, reliable drinkers, for the one guy out there who never watched the Croc Hunter.

So I’m gonna give the Adelaida a straight up 90 out of 100 points.  I bought 3 bottles of it today and will drink them happily and ponder which of my remaining allocations to cancel unless the makers drop the price a bit.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...