Friday Morning Wine Blogging?

My intentions were good, and that is all that matters these days, right? I mean how many times do we hear people saying things like, "well yes, he robbed the bank, but he did it to feed his family", or "I wanted to help 42M people who don't have insurance with my healthcare plan, so the fact that it was a disaster means little in view of my glorious intentions"?

Or something like that.

The point is, I was going to fire up the wine blog last night and return to that practice previously popular here of Thursday Night Wine Blogging. And the fact is, I did pretty well; nice bottle of wine, Riedel glass, and over the course of two hours our so, I drank the whole thing.

So what went wrong? I was so busy doing some other stuff I didn't have time to write my impressions down. Lucky for you folks, my taste memory is nothing short of legendary and so this morning I shall fill you in on last night's enjoyment.

Bottom Line: Saint Gregory Pinot Noir 2005 is a heck of a good value.

The story behind this little baby is that some dude out in Mendecino inherited vineyards that his grandfather planted almost one hundred years ago. The dude, who's name is Greg Graziano, has now established 4 labels under which he produces 30 - 40 wines. How he does so with any consistent quality is beyond me, and I hold out the possibilty that the rest of his production is a complete nightmare. As for St. Gregs Pinot, I'm totally there.

The bottle cost me around $18 bucks. I'll admit going in that, despite the back label's claims of a "traditional burgundian winemaking method", I thought this was going to be another Cali fruit bomb as most of that state's production in this price range seems to be. As it turns out this really wasn't the case. Oh, I'll admit the wine was a bit more explosive than one might find produced in France, but the truth is that it demonstrated nice fruit, solid earthiness typical of European approaches and a subtle oaking that made the whole thing come together nicely in the mouth.

This is not a sophisticated wine for aging in the seller, nor is it richly textured. At $18 bucks though, it is a solid choice that can be paired with any hearty meal.