2006 WesMar Pinot Noir

There are some wines that are just so refreshing and delicious that you never get sick of drinking them, and these two Pinot Noirs from WesMar fall into that category for me. I find that sometimes even though wines are well made and a good example of their varietal, after the first glass or two it's possible to not really want to drink more. This is definitely not the case here.

The WesMar name is a combination of the two owners, wife and husband Denise Mary Selyem and Kirk Wesley Hubbard. Denise is the daugher of Ed Selyem, and the couple worked at Williams Selyem until it was sold in 1997. In March of 2000, WesMar winery was started in an old apple processing warehouse in Sebastopol, CA. These wines are made with a focus on balance and aren't your super-extracted, candied alcoholic cocktails that have become all too common in California but instead showcase soaring aromatics and a refreshing flavor profile with snappy acids that make them great for the dinner table.

Aside from being well priced and very good, Denise and Kirk have some of the best customer service I've encountered. I originally planned to let these wines sleep for a while longer, but I received an email with a generous offer to mailing list members --- In part due to these economic times, WesMar was offering a number of free bottles depending on the size of your order. If you ordered a six pack, you'd receive one free bottle of their "sur lees" Pinot Noir. Order a case, and you'd receive three free bottles. That's the first I've heard of any winery with such and offer, and I was impressed. Now all I needed to do was open a few bottles of what I already had to determine if I'd like to order more.

Tasting Notes:

2006 WesMar Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir:
Translucent but not overly light strawberry color in the glass. The nose on this wine is very expressive with aromas of pure strawberry fruit, some interesting minty accents, and secondary notes of freshly tilled damp soil. On the palate are bright red fruit flavors, bordering on the lighter bodied side with fairly high acidity and a crisp, refreshing medium length finish that includes just a little tannin. The mouthfeel on this wine is all just silky bright fruit. This is definitely a wine I could not get sick of drinking, just so pure and refreshing... Showing well and this should have a nice long life ahead of it

Price: $35
Score: 91

2006 WesMar Russian River Valley Pinot Noir:
A little darker than the Sonoma Coast, showing a ruby colored robe, this wine seems a little closed right now. The nose is not giving much up but a little sneak preview of the potential with aromas reminiscent of brown sugar mixed with molasses, some spices that make me think of Christmas, and darker red fruits such as raspberry. While not as showy as the Sonoma, I can only hope the nose comes alive with time, and if it does I could get lost in those scents for hours. On the palate there is more weight, showing a medium bodied wine with great mouth coating texture and flavors of red fruits and spice that lead into a long finish.

Price: $35
Score: 90
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2006 Carlisle Sonoma County Zinfandel

When it comes to QPR in wine, you'd be hard pressed to come up with better wine than what Carlisle has to offer, across the board. In fact, for the 2006 release of this wine, I believe that they even rolled back the price, which is virtually unheard of in this day and age. It's too bad for the average consumer that Carlisle wines are somewhat scarce and the wait time to buy directly from the winery is a few years at the least, but the savvy shopper can usually find a few of these wines scattered amongst select retail shops in major cities. If you do find them, I'd advise you to snag them quickly, because they don't last too long on the shelves.

The first vintage of Carlisle was 5 gallons of Zinfandel, made in owner Mike Officer's kitchen in the late 1990's. Today, that number has grown to around 2500 cases of various Zinfandel and Syrah blends and single vineyard bottlings from some of the best vineyards in Sonoma. This particular blend comes from about 6 different vineyards in Sonoma and has a dollop of Petite Sirah and Alicante thrown in which definitely makes things interesting. I'm completely guessing here since I have no clue what the initial blend tasted like or the reasoning behing the Petite Sirah addition, but I feel like I could have done without it. Petite Sirah seems to have such an overwhelming flavor profile and tannic structure that for my palate, and what I look for in Zinfandel, it's not needed. Even though that thought comes to mind, I'm going to believe the winemakers judgement that it does in fact improve the blend. Regardless, this wine is a star today on top of being a screaming bargain. It makes me ecstatic that I have a handful of them tucked away, because I won't touch any more for another year, at least.

Tasting Notes:
Dark, almost inky black color with reddish purple highlights towards the rim with a nose that oozes ripe cherries, plum, and raspberry dusted with black pepper as well as brambly spices. As the nose indicated, the palate holds gobs of fruit, balanced with adequate acidity and iron clad tannins that clamp down on the spicy finish. This is not a Zinfandel for early consumption, and needs at least another year in the cellar in my opinion. It was much better on day 2, which might indicate it has a long life ahead of it. A wine that will reward patience.

Price: About $20

Score: 90-91

Alcohol: 14.9%

Cases Produced:857
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2005 Siduri "Terra De Promissio" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

I think in some little section of their brain, every serious wine lover has the dream of dropping everything, moving to wine country and becoming a successful winemaker. For some, this dream becomes a reality, and for Adam and Dianna Lee, I guess you could say it's a dream come true. Back in the early 90's, the two had a passion for Pinot Noir and took a chance by moving from Texas to California, with no prior winemaking experience to succeed in making some of the best single vineyard Pinot around.

After moving to California, the Lee's decided to take their life's savings, and make a little wine. Lo and behold, the first vintage in 1994 turned out to be pretty damn good. So good, in fact, they drunkenly decided to drop a bottle off on Robert Parkers doorstep at the Meadowood Resort, like a gift wrapped present from the stork. Upon sobering up, they realized what they had done and frantically tried to get the bottle back, to no avail. Well, old boy Parker ended up hailing it as "terrific," and gave it a score of 90+. As novice winemakers, what better publicity can you ask for?

This was just the beginning of their good fortune. For the next vintage, they scored top grapes from Hirsch Vineyard, who sold to Kistler and Williams Selyem, among others. For two new winemakers in California, this must have seemed like a gift sent down from the gods. Even if you take away the scores and reviews, the quality of Siduri wines will continue to speak for themselves. Throughout the years they've focused solely on single vineyard Pinot Noir, letting the terroir of the vineyard express itself with great results, as well as branching off to include a second label, Novy, which focuses on Syrah.

One thing that I love about the Lee's is that they're genuinely nice people... Family oriented folk that wanted to make wine because they had a true passion for it. They have a large production with prices ranging from $19 to the mid 50's, and with the skyrocket price of some Pinot Noir, who can be mad at that? Producing single vineyard Pinot Noir from 27 different vineyards and countless 90+ scores from wine critics, Siduri is not going anywhere, and they still don't even own their own vines, which is amazing. Combine that, two children, and their other Novy, and you'll see that the Lee's are very, very busy.

Tasting Notes:
Dark ruby red in the glass, I've had this wine 3 separate times now and on each occasion there is some degree of a burnt rubber aroma. I can't say I'm a huge fan of that but after opening up a bit, there's a nice mix of dark fruit and nice ripe cherry, along with a funky core of earth and dirt on the nose. Slightly hot, there's an abundance of nice red fruit in the mouth, ending with a bit of spice. Pleasant finish on the medium- short side. Unfortunately, I tasted this wine way too young, and I think it should have at least another year in the bottle. Should you open one soon, definitely decant.

Price: $44

Score: 85-88


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