As usual, our family and friends popped a lot of good bottles for Thanksgiving this year and Fred Scherrer's 2005 Russian River Pinot rose to the top of the list last night. I went to Fred's open house at the winery in Sebastapol near Graton last weekend and had Fred pick something that he liked and he found a magnum of this one. The way Fred put it, he liked the "place it was in right now", and I have to agree. It is showing really beautifully right now, bright and vivacious. This is a clean, balanced wine with all the best attributes of the Russian River Pinots. The nose is full of cherries with a touch of citrus peel, the perfect foil for a Thanksgiving feast.
It was showing better than a couple other amazing Pinots, the 1997 Corton from Chateau Grancey and the 2003 St. Innocent Willamette Valley.
Dessert was an amazing array of pies and homemade ice creams so I opened a 2001 Chateau de Cosse Sauternes that was also in a good spot. The de Cosse is not the most complex of Sauternes, but it is also less heavily sulphured on the nose than a lot of other Sauternes.
Sounds very good, have to try this over here in the UK. I drink too little of these Californian wines.
Posted by: Oscar | January 12, 2010 at 03:11 PM