Marimar Torres Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley 1999

[stevebody]

Whoa, Dude...The Marimar Torres is a bit restrained but that certainly isn't a characteristic of Cali Pinots. Quite the opposite. Brian LOring, one of the new up-and-coming Pinot makers from CA has regaled me with stories of being set upon by hoardes of Burgundy and Oregon Pinot freaks who called him everything but a gentleman because California Pinots are so freakin' big. Ditto for David Bruce who told me he almost stopped going to wine shows because he had such moronic conversations from the OR/Burgindy maniacs over his "ruining" of the varietal. Drink a few of the better Oregons up next to that Torres - Archery Summit, Ponzi, Adelsheim, etc. - and see if the Torres doesn't look right HUGE in that context.