Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir 2006

Why Buy: If you like French pinot, you'll love Dom. Drouhin. One of the best examples of a Burgundian style American Pinot Noir at an American style price.

Price : $40

Details:

What you smell almost perfectly parallels what you taste. Cherry, with black berries & wild raspberries, balanced against the forest floor after a storm. Wet pine needles and deeper truffle. A finesse Pinot. If you were hiking in the Suislaw under dripping redwoods with a bag of cherries in your jacket and got lost, and stumbled upon a little meadow, just a small break in the canopy, and there grew a few thorny raspberry bushes, and you started picking them and stuffing them fresh into your mouth with handfuls of cherries, and if while doing this you realized you were a truffle-sniffing pig, you might begin to appreciate what's going on in this Pinot.

Notes: France meets American Pinot Noir, literally, in this Pinot. Maybe the French name gives it away, but this producer moved from Burgundy to Oregon specifically to make Pinot Noir because of the two locations' similarities. You can find the name Drouhin on a French label as well. Well rated. If you don't mind spending the extra $20, get Dom. Drouhin's Laurene - which offers even more of what you get in this wine.

Occasion and Pairing: Rainy weather or the day after a rain. I created the recipe for Duck Breasts with Cherry Blackberry Glaze to pair with this Pinot.

State: Oregon

Region: Willamette Valley

Food Pairing Recommendations

Duck Breast with Cherry-Blackberry Glaze Recipe