Damn good pinot

[Florida Jim]

On a recent visit to the Anderson Valley, I was struck by the variation in topography. One moment you are weaving through hill country where elevation changes are rapid and S-turns wind through constricted canyons, and the next, you are driving straight road on flat valley floor. Of all the places in northern California I have been, this one feels the most right to me.

The Dennison Vineyard is up this way; where exactly, I have no idea. But it interests me; not just because it is a vineyard located here but because its fruit, in the hands of Wells Gutherie from Copain, produces what I think is the best pinot noir in the state.

Certainly, the fruit gets ripe; alcohol levels above 14% attest to that. But the wines rarely show any alcoholic heat; rather they crackle with bright, crisp black raspberry and blackberry flavors. And those flavors show a depth that I find unique in domestic pinot noir; in fact, such intensity and concentration I more often associate with the very best makers in Chambolle-Musigny and Morey-St.-Denis. Even so, these are not Burgundian for they show the forward nature of this grape raised on the left coast.

For instance; over a two-day period, Diane and I enjoyed a bottle of the 1999 Copain, Pinot Noir from the Dennison Vineyard. Slightly closed on day one (and at 5 years of age, I think that’s a good sign) it still showed the robust black fruit character and firm structure I have come to expect from these bottlings. On day two it was more open (albeit, not completely) displaying a layered complexity to the fruit and spice flavors and a textural integration not present on day one. More compelling still was the length; not only persistent but balanced across the palate throughout a complex after-taste.

I don’t buy much wine from California these days; even the Copain mailers I’ve been throwing away. My wine budget has shrunk substantially and my preference for French wine has become more acute. But I think I will look a little more closely at the next order form from Copain. These wines are impressive, seem to have their own aromatic and palate signature and Wells is, quite obviously, doing something right.

And the next time I drive through the Anderson Valley, I really do have to find this vineyard.

Best, Jim