Return2005 Echelon Central Coast ($11)
Crisp berry flavors define this pleasing red, primarily sourced from cool hillside vineyards in California’s Santa Lucia Highlands, one of the state’s top Pinot Noir regions.
2005 Mandolin Monterey County ($12)
This wine’s pale color belies its intensity of flavor—fresh strawberries and raspberries, ending with an invigorating hint of black pepper. Mandolin, based in Napa Valley, makes inexpensive varietal wines from growing regions throughout California.
2005 Mary Elke Anderson Valley Mendocino County ($18)
Elke Vineyards, a boutique producer that has vineyards in both the Napa and Anderson Valleys, makes more-affordable wines under its Mary Elke label. This one, with its satiny strawberry-cherry flavors, might qualify for Pinot Noir steal of the year.
2005 Cambria Julia’s Vineyard ($19)
This vast estate—1,405 acres located in California’s Santa Maria Valley—is a reliable source for Pinot that tastes expensive but isn’t. This medium-bodied wine offers strawberry fruit, zippy acidity and a hint of sassafras.
2005 Poppy ($20)
Eric Laumann, formerly head winemaker at Edna Valley Vineyard, is the talent behind this brisk new Pinot, which smells and tastes of ripe dark cherries. The owners are six growers with properties from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley down through Santa Barbara.
2005 MacMurray Ranch Sonoma Coast ($24)
MacMurray Ranch—at one time owned by actor Fred MacMurray of My Three Sons fame and now owned by Gallo—produces a range of high-quality, cool-climate wines such as this svelte, light, berry-inflected Pinot.
2005 Capiaux Chimera ($28)
California winemaker Sean Capiaux stays away from too much new oak in this lithe multi-vineyard blend, instead focusing on the wine’s natural flavors—fresh morello cherries and hints of black tea.
2005 Landmark Grand Detour ($30)
California’s Landmark, best known for its well-priced Overlook Chardonnay, also makes a terrific Pinot Noir. Its focused, racy Grand Detour bottling is a perfect example.
2005 Orogeny Green Valley ($30)
Green Valley, one of the coolest growing regions in Sonoma County, produces Pinots with firm structure and bright acidity. This bottling shares those characteristics, along with pretty cranberry-cherry flavors.
2005 Foxen Santa Maria Valley ($32)
Foxen was one of the first wineries to open in the Santa Maria Valley, north of Santa Barbara. It’s still one of the best, too, as this flagship bottling shows. Its creamy wild berry flavors are highlighted by subtle licorice notes.2004 Baker Lane Sonoma Coast ($33)
Restaurateur and olive oil importer Stephen Singer decided a few years back that his next challenge was making top-notch Pinot Noir. This first vintage from Baker Lane suggests that he succeeded: Its cool-climate structure supports laser-focused dark cherry flavors that last.
2004 Walter Hansel North Slope ($36)
Hansel Family Vineyards, founded in 1996, currently farms 75 acres of vines at the southern tip of Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, severely limiting yields and, in 2004, using only natural yeasts to produce intensely flavorful, lush Pinots like this one.
2004 Scherrer Russian River Valley ($36)
Fred Scherrer spent 10 years as winemaker for Pinot cult-fave Dehlinger before striking out on his own in 1998. He now makes silky Pinots like this bottling, with evocative black cherry fruit and citrus zest notes.
2004 Argyle Reserve ($37)
Willamette Valley–based winemaker Rollin Soles produces beautifully textured wines, as this smooth reserve bottling reveals. From a low-yielding vintage in Oregon, it’s strikingly floral, with rich cherry-compote flavors.
2005 Papapietro Perry Russian River Valley ($42)
Ben Papapietro and Bruce Perry traded in newspaper careers to make Pinot Noir instead—a wise choice, if this succulent, almost heady three-vineyard blend is any indication.
2005 Hartford Court Fog Dance Vineyards ($45)
This satiny red—named for the fog that drifts off the Pacific into Sonoma’s Green Valley vineyards each night, then rolls back out to sea during the day—is full of wild berry flavors, finishing on a licorice note.
2005 Penner-Ash Willamette Valley ($45)
Winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash resigned as president of Oregon producer Rex Hill in 2002 to concentrate full-time on her own company, which now produces about 2,500 cases of Pinot Noir each year. One of her best is this earthy, black raspberry–rich bottling, a blend from 10 different Willamette Valley vineyards.
2005 A. P. Vin Rosella’s Vineyard ($46)
Winemaker Andrew Vingiello is one of a number of talented young Pinot fanatics in California making multiple cuvées from vineyards up and down the coast. This wine, from a noted Santa Lucia Highlands vineyard, turns that classic Pinot trick of somehow matching rich flavors with weightless delicacy.
2005 Loring Wine Company Brosseau Vineyard ($48)
Brian Loring lists his winemaking role-models as Domaine Dujac, Domaine Henri Jayer and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti—but what Pinot Noir producer wouldn’t? This lovely, fragrant red, from a small vineyard in the limestone hills near Soledad, California, is an impressive homage to his idols.
2004 Dutton Goldfield Devil’s Gulch ($52)
Devil’s Gulch, a steep vineyard adjacent to California’s Point Reyes Peninsula in western Marin County, provides the fruit for this powerfully structured Pinot. An unusually fogless harvest in ’04 helped push the grapes to perfect ripeness—as is clear from the wine’s intense, herbal, wild blackberry flavors.
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