This was a lot of fun, and my thanks also to Adam for spending the good part of the day on Sunday with us - after flying in on a redeye from Texas just the night before! The man has stamina!  

I think 2006 may prove to be one of the strongest vintages for Siduri yet. In some respects I think 2006 may, in the end, outshine the terrific 2005 vintage, as the wines to me seem to show equal balance but more intensity, more purity of flavors.

We began with a very unusual wine - the 2006 Van der Kamp Blanc de Noir. This was made from a section of the vineyard that was planted in order to create cuttings for a number of different clones. It was never really intended for harvesting grapes, but there they were - so the vineyard owner proposed to Adam to take the grapes, make a rose out them, and if it turns out good enough to sell then pay what he felt the grapes were worth - nice deal! So instead of a Rose, Adam made a white Pinot Noir! Well, I'll tell you - you'd never guess what grape this wine was made from, but it was really good! Rich creamy mouthfeel, good fresh flavors, not really a complex wine by any measure, but sure tasty, and very unique!

On to the regular Pinots:

2006 Willamette Valley - Good nose, some earth notes, spice, red fruits, tart cherries & cranberries. Good texture, just a touch of heat, moderate tannins. 88 points.

2006 Sonoma County - Wow, this wine is going to be a steal at $19 bucks, my clear favorite of the appellation wines. Really nice floral nose, with a classic red-fruit flavor profile, tart red cherries, strawberries. Great balance, full and broad on the palate, finely textured, and a pleasing medium finish. 91+ points.

2006 Russian River Valley - Showing a much darker fruit profile than the previous two wines, with dark cherries, plum, cola, and even a touch of mocha. Bold and full on the palate, balanced, very fine tannins, and a medium-long finish. 89 points.

2006 Santa Rita Hills - Strikes me as a classic SRH profile, all the way on the dark fruit side of the spectrum, with chocolate & spice. Very fine tannins, excellent texture and length, balanced, with a long finish. Terrific, 90 points.

2006 Santa Lucia Highlands - A blend of Garys', Rosella's & Pisoni, this wine is a powerhouse of lush sweet fruit. The nose shows tons of sweet cherries & raspberries, along with plenty of spice, and the palate follows true, filling out broadly and packed with sweet fruit. Somewhat tannic, but showing fine balance, the wine is nice, but a bit overly-fruited for my particular tastes. 88 points.

2006 Berans (Oregon) - Big nose of cranberries & spice, along with some (good) stemy notes, the nose doesn't quite indicate the blast of sweet fruit to come on the palate. Very ripe, very extracted, yet pure and focused at the same time. Good balance, full bodied, with smooth fine tannins, and good structure. Very interesting, and very good. 91 points.

2006 Shaw Mnt. (Oregon) - Interesting nose, earthy, spicy, mix of red and dark fruits. Fairly tannic, not showing a great deal, needs time. 87+ points.

2006 Arbre Vert (Oregon) - Terrific nose, showing nice depth with notes of earth, herbs, tart cherries, and cranberries. On the palate the is moderately tannic, with a beautiful core of pure sweet fruit with spice accents. Excellent balance & texture, with a long finish. Should be a good mid-term ager. 93 points.

2006 Hawk's View (Oregon) - Surprisingly dark fruit profile, with dark plums, berries, & earth. Very fleshy palate, very ripe, good balance, a very rich and full wine. 88 points.

2006 Terra de Promissio - Very nice nose showing bright fresh red fruits, red cherries, and spice, some light earth notes. Full broad palate, balanced, with a long finish. Tannins are very smooth and polished, the wine is very approachable now, but I'm not sure it's one I would age more than a few years. 89 points.

2006 Sonatera - One of my favorite wines of this tasting, just a terrific nose, effusive and complex, showing a lovely mix of both red and dark fruits, and spice accents. Great balance and length, great depth, and wonderfully textured. Excellent structure and a moderately tannic backbone indicate this should also age very well. 94+ points.

2006 Van der Kamp - Nice earthy nose, with chocolate, spice, and plums. Fairly tannic and tight on the palate, seems somewhat closed. Seems to have the potential, but needs time, tough to nail this one down (87-90 points)

2006 Amber Ridge - Another favorite of mine of the tasting, really great nose showing sweet red fruits, earth, and spice - very deep and intriguing. On the palate there is a blast of sweet fruit, but it is in no way overdone, just a great wave of pure wonderful fruit. Excellent texture, with fine tannins, fine structure and balance, and a long finish. 94 points.

2006 Ewald - A really seductive wine, with a sexy nose of spice, red fruits, and cola. The palate is equally alluring, full, rich, soft, with very fine tannins, but lacking structure and enough acidity for aging. A delicious wine for early consumption. 88 points.

2006 Keefer - One of my consistently favorite Pinot vineyards, this was unfortunately a relative disappointment in Adam's 2006 lineup. The nose presented fine, with that classic Keefer spice, earth, and tart/sweet red fruits, but I found the palate to lack structure, and it came off a bit candied and dull. 84 points.

2006 Garys' - Very nice, effusive nose of ripe red fruits, mocha, ripe stems, and spice. A very ripe wine, but again, very pure and focused, with good balance, a rich, broad palate, and a long finish. 91 points.

2006 Rosella's- A really terrific nose, showing plenty of fruit, spice, and earth. A more feminine wine, it is soft and sexy, with great balance, outstanding texture, and enough structure that it should age nicely at least for the mid-term, and perhaps longer. 93 points.

2006 Pisoni - I found this wine to come off a bit closed up, and not giving much up. The nose did offer up dark fruits, chocolate, and spice, and the palate is balanced but firmly tannic at present. This wine certainly has very good potential, but needs serious time to come out of it's shell. (88-92 points)

2006 Cargasacchi - I believe this to be the finest wine I have ever tasted from this vineyard, an outstanding effort. A muscular wine that (like Peter  ) isn't shy, it has a deep intense nose of dark fruits, chocolate, and all sorts of interesting things going on. A delight on the palate, with excellent texture, a solid backbone of fine, smooth tannins, and excellent length. Drinks great now, and should only get better with time. 94 points.

2006 Clos Pepe - Whoa, this is Clos Pepe? Somewhat atypical of my experience from this vineyard, this is a large scale wine, muscular and brawny, with a huge dark fruit profile, spice, some earth, and even a touch of pepper. Good balance, clean acidity, intense fruit, structured, and firmly tannic, this should be a very interesting wine to watch. 93 points.

From there we did the picking time tasting. Three samples, two were the same (picked earlier) and one was different (picked 8 days later). Interestingly, the brix at harvest were only .1 different from each other. The real difference was in the acidity, the later picked having dropped by a fairly significant amount (I do not recall the numbers). The later picked wine was easy to identify, and I think we were unanimous in preferring the early picked.

The next two trials weren't so easy. First, the filtering comparison tasting. Three Syrah samples, two filtered, one not. I thought I could tell which was which, but in the end I was wrong. These were, for all intents, qualitatively identical. What to make of this? Filtering either doesn't make as much difference as some would think, or the effects of filtering perhaps don't show up right away. We'll try again next year and see where this question stands  .

Finally, the Velcorin comparison. Again, three Syrah samples, two Velcorin'd and one not. I could not detect any difference in the wines whatsoever. We were all agreed that any difference was extremely small, and again - perhaps it is something that could show up later, after some time in the bottle.

All in all a terrific way to spend a Sunday morning/afternoon. Thanks again to Adam for your generosity.