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2005 Patricia Green, Croft Vineyards
Willamette Valley
$31.99
Shane’s Notes

Pinots are expensive and frustrating and I don’t know why I keep buying them. The huge problem for me is that I haven’t found a region that consistently produces the style I like. We both enjoy the Santa Lucia Highlands Pinots, but they are a bit too flamboyant. We also aren’t too thrilled with massive, syrah like Pinots. So, we’ve widened our search to include Russian River, Sonoma and Oregon Pinots. I think my favorite so far has been last year’s bottling of Rochioli’s basic Pinot.

This Patricia Green was very close to what I’m looking for so we will definitely try a few more Oregon Pinots. The smoky, herbal aroma on this one is much more restrained than a Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot. The palate has a nice wave of flavor that tastes like strawberry coulis and a bit of that smoky aroma finds its way into the palate. This one should definitely be aged or at least decanted for an hour. It is one of the better Pinots I’ve had recently and Jen laughed as she called it “Burgundian.” I’ve disliked Burgundies so much that I’ve said Burgundy should uproot their Pinot and replace it with Gamay. Maybe they should wait awhile just in case I want to revisit their Pinots.