Winegazer TV Episode 19: California Pinot Noir Battle

Just beginning to enjoy the Pinot Noir wines of California. Two that really stuck out were a Russian River Valley PN from MacMurray Ranch and a La Crema Monterey PN.
Nice video, the Ampalos from Santa Ynez Hills sounds like something I would like to try. Will definitely be on the look out for one from that region.

All those Pinot’s seem very dark or that might be the video, are they all 100% pinot.
Did I get that right you actually got wineries to send you samples? Good work in that case

Thanks for the compliments on the video! I liked the spiciness of the Ampelos very much.

Hi Anders, some of the wines were a little darker than expected, especially the Laetitia from the Arroyo Grande Valley. I am having some challenges showing the subtleties of color and overall density of the wine when I hold the glass to the camera. I think it is time to retire the Kodak Zi8 and get a more professional camera. According to the wineries they are all 100% Pinot but in California they can label it as Pinot Noir and include up to 25% juice from other grapes.

I have been getting more wineries who are interested in sending wine to be included in certain episodes so cheers to that! Got upcoming episodes featuring Bordeaux blends from Washington state and another one featuring Pinot Gris from Oregon and all the wines were samples from wineries. It helps because I don’t own a wine store where I can just pull inventory from whenever I feel like filming a show! Cheers, Scott