Many respected wine writers are saying that the 2007 vintage for California Pinot Noir is one of the best in some time. I agree with them. But, aside from the general message that now is a good time to buy a bunch of Pinot, what does “best” really mean. To me it means exceptional complexity and a really good balance of tannins, acidity and alcohol.

In a lot of wine regions, especially very cool climate locations such as Burgundy, an exceptional year might simply be one during which the weather was good enough to allow the grapes to fully ripen. However, insufficient ripeness is rarely a problem for Pinot Noir in California. Too much ripeness is more typical. This leads us toward what I think made the 2007 vintage great here.

While the tendency of California grapes to achieve intense ripeness brings powerful and attractive fruit flavors, there are downsides. High sugars result in high-alcohol wines. That level of ripeness usually means lower acidity and the acidity which does exist is masked by the alcohol and viscous fruit. Sometimes the power of the fruit also completely overwhelms the many delicate flavors and aromas for which Pinot Noir is so prized. Some winemakers use a lot of new oak with such wines too. The end products can be heavy “one-note” wines that bear more similarity to a fruit liqueur, such as Chambord, than to classic wines.

One of the reasons that 2007 was a great year for California Pinot Noir is that sugar levels didn’t get out of hand. Weather had a lot to do with this. In Carneros, for example, temperatures were moderate all year without any serious heat waves. This allowed the sugars in the grapes to increase slowly and steadily and remain in step with the phenolic ripeness.

Precipitation was also moderate. This led to a crop that was lower than many in tonnage, but higher in quality. The bunch count was normal, but the individual grapes were smaller than is often the case. Small grapes can lead to complex wine, because the ratio of skin to juice is high. Therefore, the flavors generated by the skins during vinification are less diluted.

If you would like to sample a Carneros Pinot Noir that exemplifies the complexity California can deliver in a great year, try the 2007 Sand Hill Pinot Noir, Durell Vineyard. It hasn’t been released just yet, but Sand Hill has given me the the opportunity to try it twice already and based on those experiences recommend it highly.

The wine is bright ruby in color with a pale rim and clear legs that telegraph a somewhat luxurious mouthfeel without over- extraction. Swirl the wine in your glass and this Pinot Noir’s complexity will reach out to you before your nose gets to the rim. The wine is obviously very young and is playing aroma wheel roulette. The aromas you get may not match what I’ve found, but the level of complexity should be similar. (Wines often tighten up for a while after being bottled but Sand Hill ages their Pinot in bottle for almost a year in an effort to spare you that experience.)

When I tasted the wine on October 10, the primary aromas were of red cherry, black cherry and Dr. Pepper. Typical Pinot notes of dark flowers and gravel added interest, as did those of brown spice and sandalwood which I assume came from the medium- toast  French oak barrels. I re-tasted the wine on November 12 and the black cherry was still present. But the red cherry had been replaced by cranberry and dried orange peel. The flowers had disappeared and in their place were dried herb, black tea, and moist tobacco leaf. Gravel had become earth. Sandalwood had morphed into cedar, smoke and brown sugar. As the wine sat in my glass during the latter tasting, some of the subtler aromas dissipated. At that point, the wine presented strong core aromas of sweet black and red cherry with accents of cedar, vanilla and caramel.

As one would expect from its appearance, the wine has the body of whole milk in the mouth and silky tannins. There’s a tartness to the fruit but the tannins and alcohol don’t allow the acidity to be mouth-watering. The flavors are proud but not aggressive and they matched many of the aromas. Cherry dominates but is complemented by cedar, dried tobacco, earth, black tea, forest floor and rosemary. The finish is long with persistent tart cherry and raspberry flavors.

You can drink this wine now and it would be very enjoyable with stuffed quail, seared duck breast or your Thanksgiving feast. But make sure you save some bottles because it should continue to improve for at least six years.

This article is original to NorCalWine.com. Copyright 2010 NorCal Wine. All rights reserved.

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