12/15/06 New Favorite Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and as many of you know, my new favorite wine is usually the wine that is in my glass at the time. You see I just do not drink wine that I do not enjoy. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we drank some lovely Pinot Noir. And  today I want to tell you about the 2004 Famous Gate Pinot Noir from Domaine Carneros. It is no secret that many of the famous Champaign producers of France have made their way to California to produce sparkling wines of the highest caliber. Many of them elected to grow their grapes, predominantly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in the cooler growing area of the Carneros. Carneros is an AVA that stretches across both Napa and Sonoma cooled by the San Pablo Bay breezes creating conditions well suited to the cultivation of grapes with acidity and fruit characteristics desirable for some of the best sparkling wine. Domaine Carneros owned by the famous French Champagne house of Taittinger produces a still wine from this excellent Pinot Noir. In addition to the luscious fruit this wine is made from it is also aged in specially coopered barrels that yield very soft wood tannin and lower oak astringency allowing the wine to be the star of the show. The resulting wine has finesse and depth that I feel we miss in most heavily oaked wines of any varietal. Not just Pinot Noir. Production of Famous Gate Pinot Noir is extremely limited and available only through the winery, but believe me; it is well worth the effort and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.