The Prince of Pinot drinks some of my favorite wines
If you read my blog, you know that I love Oregon Pinot Noir. For my money, I would rather buy a case of good Oregon Pinot than 1-2 bottles of Burgundy, but then I live fairly close to Oregon so perhaps I’m a bit biased. Don’t get me wrong, I love Burgundy. But at $35-$50/bottle, it’s hard to beat some of these terrific Oregon Pinot Noirs.
For example, I think I talk about Domaine Drouhin at least once per week on my blog. Other favorites include Le Cadeau and Lachini, with several more waiting in the wings to take their place in my heart, so to speak.
Bearing this interest in mind, it was interesting to see that the February 12, 2007 issue of the PinotFile (written by the Prince of Pinot) focuses on 2004 Oregon Pinot Noir. I got very excited when I saw that the Prince specifically tasted some of my favorite Oregon wines: Domaine Drouhin and Le Cadeau! How did they fare against some other Oregon Pinot Noir releases in a blind tasting?
Well, the Prince liked these wines a lot. He named the Le Cadeau Cote Est and Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley as two of his four “Prime Beavers.” I am not sure what it means to be a “Prime Beaver,” but I love any tiered rating system that uses beavers. Very innovative!
The other two Le Cadeau releases clocked in as “Choice Beavers,” along with the JK Carriere Willamette Valley release. I do like the JK Carriere wines but they are a bit expensive in my opinion. The big winner, and the Prince’s “Top Beaver,” was the Winter’s Hill Pinot Noir Reserve. While it might be considered a bit unfair to match their reserve against the basic offerings of Domaine Drouhin and JK Carriere, I think it’s fine to consider all of the releases together. I also really want to get my hands on a bottle of the Winter’s Hill Pommard Clone Cuvee release. I do love Pommard-based Pinot Noir.
Finally, a few other standard names show up in the Prince’s review: Dusky Goose, Argyle, Van Duzer, and Domaine Serene all make quite classy wines.
Speaking of wines showing up, I received my 3 bottles of 2004 Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir last night! Very exciting. Apparently my wife had to answer the door in a towel with curlers in her hair. Clearly I have trained her well.
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Lots of wine you are getting there! So how’s that wine budget working? ;)
On a side note, my work computer seems to have forgotten my password for your blog and I have been forgetting to forward it to myself for at least 2 weeks now. Finally remembered and now I can actually post my comments when I read as opposed to when I get home.
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
That wine budget is hurting, but I got a light tax break this year for getting married in 2006 so I sort of justified it all. *)
I’m glad to see you’re back posting comments! Congratulations on the nice house as well! That’s awesome….
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Ah, there you go then. We haven’t done the whole taxes thing yet, my work screwed up my W2 and had to reissue it, but I haven’t gotten the new one yet. Hopefully we’ll see a break too as we got married this summer.
Thanks! We’re really excited about it and veyr much looking forward to closing!