[Cornell Wine] Cornell Wine This Week

[Michael Beard]

CORNELL WINE COMPANY
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August 18 – California Pinot Noir

August 25 – Wines of Walla Walla

September 01 – Sangiovese-based wines

September 08 – California Cabernet Sauvignon

September 15 – Portugese Table Wines



FRIDAY, August 18th, 4:30 - 7:00pm

CALIFORNIA PINOT NOIR

Okay, we are all proud of the Oregon wine industry and their  
wonderful Pinot Noirs, but we should not be narrow-minded and ignore  
our neighbors to the south.  I agree many CA Pinot Noir wines are  
very jammy and not what I want from Pinot Noir, but there are two  
areas where CA can excel.  First, there are several varietally  
correct wines at a low price, and secondly, there are many superb  
wines made from cooler sites.  My biggest problem with the best CA  
wines is price – we grumble about Oregon pricing, but at the recent  
IPNC tasting many of the CA wines I liked were $60 - $85/bottle!   
This tasting will offer two low-priced wines and then a couple at  
more like Oregon pricing.  The Premium Pours are somewhat expensive,  
but let us see whether they are worth the money.  We are offering  
wines from various CA regions, and I’ll keep my comments to a  
minimum  -  so you can make your own decisions.
1. We start in the RUSSIAN RIVER with the BOGLE 2004 PINOT NOIR.   
When the distributor poured this for me I thought it would be a  
$18.00 wine (relative to current Oregon pricing), and so it is  
excellent value  - $13.50

2. HERON WINES, run by the irrepressible LAELY HERON, produce many  
great value wines, and this 2004 PINOT NOIR is no exception.   
Varietally correct on the nose and palate, it is not very complex,  
but offers great value.  Laely makes wine in several places, so is  
this fruit from California?… $12.00

3. We now go to CARNEROS that was looked upon as the place for Pinot  
Noir in California.  Straddling Napa and Sonoma, just north of the  
San Francisco Bay, this area gets cooling maritime winds.  SAINTSBURY  
has been a consistent producer of good Pinot Noir, and their GARNET  
PINOT NOIR has always been great value.  When Pauline and I lived in  
Connecticut in the 1980s, this was our “lunchtime Pinot Noir” as it  
is relatively light bodied to go with food such as chicken/seafood  
salad and many other recipes  The 2005 is excellent value - $19.50

4. For me, my favorite Californian Pinot Noirs are tending to come  
from Southern California.  MELVILLE is relatively new to me, but  
their 2004 SANTA RITA HILLS PINOT NOIR, while not exactly Burgundy,  
has a certain elegance to its ripe red fruit well balanced by oak -  
$29.00

TRY THESE FOUR WINES FOR $10.00

This week we offer TWO PREMIUM POURS:

At this year’s IPNC the BOUCHAINE 2004 CARNEROS ESTATE PINOT NOIR was  
one of my favorite Californian wines.  Whereas the SAINTSBURY from  
CARNEROS offers elegant red fruit, this wine offers gobs of black  
fruit.  It also offers good balance and length - $40.00

TRY THIS WINE FOR $4.50/Taste or $8.00/4 ounces

Our second “Premium Pour” is from the SANTA RITA HILLS and is the SEA  
SMOKE 2004 SOUTHING.  At last year’s IPNC the 2003 vintage of this  
wine was my favorite USA Pinot Noir in the tasting.  Unfortunately it  
was not available in Oregon.  The winery now has a local distributor,  
and my allocation of this 2004 is 4 bottles (if you like it, buy  
now!).  Let’s see whether this wine can match Oregon wines at the  
same price - $55.00

TRY THIS WINE FOR $6.00/Taste or $11.00/4 ounces

TASTE BOTH FOR $10.00



SATURDAY, August 19th

Noon – 5:00PM


As usual we will have a couple of interesting wines open for free  
tasting:

For a white we will have a 2003 CORBIÈRES BLANC that is on  
distributor “close-out”.  It is still fresh and lively and  
sensational value at $6.75

Our red comes from Châteauneuf-du-Pape producer, MAS de BOIS LAUZON.   
The 2005 LA CHAUSSYNETTE is a blend of mainly GRENACHE and SYRAH from  
the SOUTHERN RHÔNE VALLEY/PROVENCE and is sensational value at $9.00

Looking forward to seeing you all,
Cheers,

Mick

Cornell Wine Company

14740 NW Cornell Road, #90

Portland, OR 97229-5400
(503) 531-3981
mick at cornellwine.com
www.cornellwine.com
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