Pee No.

I love Pinot Noir; it's quite likely my favorite wine. I'm probably pretty biased, as the three wineries I worked at all specialized in Pinot, but maybe it was just a 'fate' -like happening. It's such a delicate grape and the spread of possibilities of what the wine may turn into is giant across the globe. Tonight I'm sipping a Penner-Ash 2007 Rubeo, a budget-end blend of Pinot Noir and Syrah from a reputable Willamette Valley producer. I had it with dinner, a spicy pork-sausage and tomato cream sauce pasta dish, but it's elegance graces my stemware as it opens up more and more after dinner starts to digest. The 'Oregon Funk' as I like to call it, a good 'funk' in my opinion, like a James Brown grove or George Clinton on his A-Game, is a synthesis of decaying evergreen forest with the liveliness of a fresh cranberry bog and ripened cherries. The touch of smoke from some french wood aging adds a welcomed layer. I haven't really written any bad reviews of wine yet; perhaps that's a reflection of my general optimism or I'm not drinking enough wine or taking enough risks (like the 2004 Vernaccia di San Gimigniano I bought last night knowing 99% that it would be bad but wondering what it would taste like anyway). My blog is also pretty juvenile. Penner-Ash was my first harvest gig and ironically the winery that taught me how un-romantic winemaking can be produces some of the sexier wines I've had the pleasure to drink.