A couple of months ago, I set the date for my Sixth Annual Blind Tasting of American Pinot Noir for November 4th. That would give me enough time to clean up my notes and publish them in time for Thanksgiving, essentially the Super Bowl for Pinot Noir (Pinot is perhaps the most versatile of wines for Thanksgiving, able to handle all of those crazy flavors on the Turkey Day table).

November 4th had to be the day since I was once again to be a judge for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which was scheduled to occur over the second weekend in November. And since Thanksgiving would soon follow, it had to be that first Saturday in November. Then I realized that my favorite college football team would be playing a big game during the scheduled tasting, I panicked. Too late to change the date, I sucked it up and hoped that my team would still win without the benefit of me screaming obscenities at the TV during the game. They did.

Phew.

This year, there were 69 wines to go through, which took just over four hours. Pour. Swirl. Sniff. Sip. Slurp. Spit. Scribble. Repeat.

Here are the first 20 wines, in the order we tasted them:

2019 Rodney Strong Pinot Noir Blue Wing Vineyard, Petaluma Gap, CA: Retail $30. Under screw-cap. Light color, translucent. Wonderful nose of bright cherry and a touch of earth. Lovely. Whoa. Holy cow. Great fruit, wonderful acidity, a lengthy finish. Right off the bat this is stellar. Outstanding. 96 Points.

2021 Alexana Pinot Noir Revana Vineyard. Dundee Hills Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $60. Darker in color and aromas. Black cherry and even some blackberry with pepper and a bit of red licorice. The fruit is a bit light on the palate, but nice and quite tart. Fine expression. Very Good. 89 Points.

2021 Domaine Carneros Pinot Noir The Famous Gate, Carneros, CA: Retail $95. Dark, on the verge of magenta with a shy nose of red fruit and fairly light in fruit on the palate. Plenty of tartness. A bit hot on the finish. Again, fine, but not much more. Very Good. 88 Points. Please see my post last week about this wine.

2021 Murphy-Goode Pinot Noir, California: Retail $18. Dark for a pinot with a candied nose of darker red fruit and a bit of earth. The palate is nicely balanced and finishes well. Very Nice. Excellent. 92 Points.

2021 Cambria Pinot Noir Julia’s Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley, CA: Retail $25. Fairly light in color with a somewhat dirty nose (stem inclusion?) of light cherry and maybe even some funk. Light on the palate as well, but pretty well balanced and a lengthy finish. Not as boisterous as others but very nice.. Excellent. 91 Points.

2022 Brooks Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $30. Medium to dark color with a very shy nose—not much here at all. Maybe a bit of fruit? Same story on the palate which comes off a little hot. This likely needs some time to open up. Very Good. 88 Points.

Blind tastings are not all that glamorous at my house–they involve a bunch of brown paper bags.

2021 Stephen Ross Pinot Noir, San Luis Obispo Coast, CA: Retail $30. Medium to dark. Nice nose of black cherry, cranberry, and spice with a touch of earth. Earthy and full on the palate with the dark cherry aspect predominate. Lengthy finish. Outstanding. 93 Points.

2021 Torii Mor Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $30. Medium color with another really shy nose. Maybe a hint of fruit again, but more of a blueberry, blackberry than a cherry vibe. Nice on the palate, but again, rather shy. Very Good. 88 Points.

2021 Sangiacomo Wines ViMaria, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $70(?). Dark, on the verge of opaque. Rich in fruit, mostly on the dark side, much more blueberry than cherry with a nice earthy component. The palate is big and fruity, so much so that it comes off as sweet. Perhaps lacking a bit of acidity. Very Good. 89 Points.

2021 Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir Vintner’s Reserve, California: Retail $18. Fairly dark, with lots of fruit on the nose, rich, dark, and deep. Nice. The palate is loaded with fruit, but the acidity is initially lacking. It comes in on the finish, though, rounding out the wine nicely. Excellent. 92 Points.

2020 J. Lohr Pinot Noir Falcon’s Perch, Monterey County, CA: Retail $17. I choose to think that there was something wrong with this bottle since it was not good. At all. Flawed.

2019 Brooks Pinot Noir Cahiers, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $50. Dark in color with a bit of an odd nose. Not quite funky, not quite fruity, also with dark earth. The palate is considerably better, however, with good fruit/acidity balance and a bit of depth. Excellent. 91 Points.

Capsules are such a waste, I wish wineries would stop using them!

2021 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir Sly One, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $59. Dark, with a fairly shy nose of subtle fruit and a touch of earth. On the palate it is all blackberry Kool-Aid, with tons of fruit that comes off as sweet. A bit hot on the finish. Very Good. 88 Points.

2019 Angela Vineyards Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $40. A slightly different color than the others in the tasting, more of a magenta with a bit of a brett-y, funky nose. The palate is characterized by the fruit: blueberry and a tough of black cherry cola. Slightly hot on the finish. Very Good. 88 Points.

2022 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills, CA: Retail $45. Medium color with a very lovely nose of Bing cherry and earth. Nice. The palate is harmonious and tasty with solid fruit and great balance. Whoa. Outstanding. 94 Points.

2021 Maggy Hawk Pinot Noir Jolie, Anderson Valley, CA: Retail $70. Medium to dark in color. A lovely nose of subtle fruit (black cherry, plum) but also a bit of heat. Ample fruit on the palate but this seems to be lacking a bit of acidity to keep up. Very Good. 89 Points.

2021 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir Pinot de Ville, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $69. Medium color with a lovely nose of bright cherry fruit, a slight hint of earth, and just a touch of ripeness. Big on the palate, even really big with plenty of fruit (so much that it comes off as sweet), but the acidity is there, ready to battle as well and hangs in there. Certainly on the bigger side of Pinot and quite nice. Outstanding. 94 Points.

2021 Rochioli Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, CA: Retail $72. Medium dark, with darker fruit, even raspberry, earth, spice. Good fruit on the palate, but a tad flabby here until the finish. This might need some time to come together. Very Good. 89 Points. Please see my post last week about this wine.

These last two wines I am going to revisit at some point soon. Given their respective pedigrees, they should have shown much better. I will repost those notes and link them here.

2017 Elias Pinot Noir Elias, Russian River Valley, CA: Retail $62. There was something a bit odd going on with this bottle and I am going to chalk it up to being flawed, but I honestly am not sure what the issue is here. Flawed?

2021 King Estate Pinot Noir Domaine, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $85. Magenta in the glass which seems a bit odd to me—it looks more like a Cab than a Pinot. The palate is quite shy and comes off both as sour and a tad medicinal. I will need to pop the other bottle as I am not sure what is going on here. Flawed?