2006 ZD Pinot Noir

Sorry for the lazy blog title - they can't all be gold.

Tonight, we downed a lovely bottle of ZD Pinot Noir.  We actually visited ZD about 5 years ago while up in Napa.  We loved their cabernet sauvignon; even bought a bottle even though it was in the $40 range (a fortune for us back then.)  The pinot is listed as from Carneros, one of the better Pinot growing areas in California.

This is a very good pinot noir, especially at $27 from Lincoln Fine Wines.  Doing a quick web search, the price ranges from $22 (outrageously low! I'll have to check into budgetbottle.com) to $49.  Huge range.  Excellent quality, certainly worth the money.  Great fruit, great balance, nice acidity.  Really solid.  If you can find this - try it.  You will like it.  Just damn good California Pinot Noir.

Tonight, we are having a 2006 Chappellet Mountain Cuvee from Napa Valley. Chappellet is known for having pretty good 

Cabernet Sauvignon, and this has 51% Cab... as well as 40% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 1% Cab Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Seems like 

the price varies, anywhere from $20-30 - I paid $28 at Lincoln fine wines this time. Really excellent blend - great quality - 

enough Cab that it went well with our steak, but balanced enough that it could be drunk easily on it's own. For those that 

might be a bit frightened of the $50+ bottles of Cab, this is a nice alternative.  We have had this many times before and have 

never been disappointed. Better than last night's blend in my opinion, but $13 better? Who can say?

Perhaps in a day or two, I will blog about the Tokaji we had as a dessert wine...

Sorry if this post looks odd - was having a problem with the settings...