Drylands Pinot Noir Marlborough 2005
A few months back, we reviewed Drylands Sauvignon Blanc — a good, clean, nicely priced summer sipper from Marlborough, New Zealand. Not surprisingly, their Pinot Noir was similarly clean and well-valued.
The Tasting Notes
Very typical “New World” style Pinot Noir. In other words, it has wide open, bright, ripe, forward fruit on the nose and the palate. Aromas scream strawberry, red cherry, and red raspberry. Flavors are similar, with an almost jammy drench of strawberry and red raspberry upfront, which yields to mild sweet earth and some bell pepper in the midpalate and earth and black raspberry and black cherry in the finish. Acidity is mild, barely enough to match with poultry, and tannins are mild to medium. A fruity, clean, fairly polished wine that’s more like a Cru Beaujolais than a red Burgundy. Enjoyable on its own, you can also match it with mildly seasoned chicken, pork, turkey and fish, or with vegetarian dishes. Try it with Indian cuisine as well. At an SRP of $17.99, this is a good value — one of the better Pinot Noirs you’ll find under twenty bucks.
a-8 t-8 b-7 fc-7 v-8 ~ 88 Points
Generally I’m not a fan of California Chardonnay, mostly because many of the examples I’ve tasted were too over the top with sugary fruit, high alcohol, and overabundant oak. Of course, not every California Chardonnay is like that, but in my experience there have been more “cocktail quaffers” than bottles appropriate for the dinner table. 
If you can’t pronounce Pouilly-Fume, don’t fret — you need only recognize it when you see it on the shelf (you can always point it out to the sommelier in a restaurant as well, without embarrassment). 
Many people just getting into wine find their way to Robert Mondavi — particularly the under-$10 bottles tabbed “Private Selection” and the soda-pop formulas packaged under the Woodbridge label.
With the label featuring a black and white photo of a sweet Labrador Retriever, how could one possibly leave this bottle on the shelf? 
Red Wine Review:
Every once in a while I do something crazy. Most of the time, the end result confirms I’m crazy. Once in a blue moon, however, I hit on a wonderful idea, or a match made in heaven. 
average retail price: $14
Estancia Winery, based in Monterey County, California, is known to cheapskates like me as a producer of solid, reliable wines in the $10-15 range. I’ve been particularly impressed with their “entry level” Pinot Noir (Pinnacles Ranches), which stands out as a keeper among the sea of crappy under-$20 Pinots made by myriad other producers. The recent excitement over Pinot Noir, and in turn its overproduction, has resulted in too many disappointing bottles, making me wary of choosing one outside of Burgundy and/or under forty bucks. Luckily, Estancia has a staked interest in their reputation, and is more interested in bottling quality wine than rushing the grape de rigeur to market.
Heidsieck & Co Monopole Blue Top Premiers Crus
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