In Praise of the 89s
August 27, 2009
I have long expected that the Wine Spectator Magazine would do a grand-scale review of the 2007 California Pinot Noirs, a vintage not to be ignored. In mid-August I was searching the WS website for something from a previous issue and noticed that September was to be their Pinot issue. The cover headline proclaimed it our best Pinot vintage ever, an easy proposition to agree with. Clicking on the cover I found a long list of advance reviews. I printed the list and then promptly forgot it.
I did not think of the printout again until customers started to call me about the reviews. This happens all the time, as east-coast and mid-west readers seem to get their copies well before we do. Most of the calls concerned Chasseur (which we are well-known suppliers of), Kosta Browne and Red Car. One caller got me at lunch, so I had some time to talk. The conversation went something along the following lines.
Customer: I am looking at the new Spectator’s Pinot reviews, do you have any of the heavy hitters in yet.
Don: I have only seen the cover. Which wines do you mean?
Customer: Chasseur Rayhill, Red Car Heaven & Earth and the Black Kites.
Don: The Black Kites are on our website. Red Car is long gone. Chasseurs are coming in the Fall. Did they review all of the Chasseurs?
Customer: Yes, mostly big ratings.
Don: The Rayhill is one of my current favorites, along with the Sexton and Joyce. I really adore the Joyce, but who knows which of the nine Chasseurs will ultimately turn out to be the best, I certainly don’t have any idea. Did they review the Benovia’s?
Customer: Just the Sonoma Coast: 88 points.
Don: For Heaven’s sake.
Customer: Is it better than that?
Don: Of course, and the three Vineyard Designates are all wonderful, especially the Savoy. Two are coming out any day now.
Customer: Can I read you some more reviews and see what else has been released?
Don: Sure, fire away. Wait a minute: let me predict some more 88 and 89 point scores first.
Customer: What do you mean?
Don: Every year a bunch of the most exciting wines get 88s and 89s. They aren’t big enough, jammy enough, or off-dry enough to fit in the Spectator’s preferred mould. There are a group of winemakers, who are super-respected by the trade, but whose wines never get into the 90s in the Spectator.
Customer: Like who?
Don: Dutton-Goldfield, Arista, Russian Hill, the less dramatic years of Chasseur: others.
Customer: I’m looking. The Aristas are all 88s and 89s.
Don: Of course. Did they do the Dutton-Goldfield ’07s?
Customer: 89 for the Freestone and 90 for the straight Dutton Ranch.
Don: The Freestone is a brilliant wine and the Sanchetti is even better in ’07.
Customer: No Russian Hill.
Don: The Russian Hill Tara was fabulous in barrel. You could fill a nice cellar with 89s, bye the way.
Customer: Apparently. Don’t worry, I know which ones I like. I just want to be sure a big review doesn’t run you out of something I want.
Don: The good news is that there is an ocean of good Pinot still in the pipeline. Lets hear the rest of your list.
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