Chappish!

This is a very fine example of Willamette Valley, Oregon pinot noir. It has a deep garnet color and a nose of berries with a hint of smoked meats. The dominant flavors are black cherry, plum and a trace of chocolate or perhaps coffee. An elusive hint of something like pencil shavings or oregano flits in the background. There's a mineral hint to the lasting, fruity finish. This wine is now getting toward the time limit of good aging for a pinot noir, so plan to enjoy it soon. I think it goes superbly with bread and cheese.  That's a favorite luncheon chez Chap, a good pinot noir with several kinds of good cheese and some tasty and dense bread. Some other good pairings are salmon, pork roast, lamb or stuffed mushrooms.

Introducing a new weekly feature on the blog: short-form wine reviews. The idea: I attend numerous wine tastings so you don't have to. You're welcome. If my guess is right, the practical chaps who read this blog don't want long flowery reviews or anything to do with wine snobbery: instead, the once-over on what the wine is like and what it is good with. As a broad average, just one wine in four makes the cut to be written up here, and sometimes I go through ten without finding one worth mentioning. If a wine appears as the wine of the week you know it is good to drink, with no outstanding flaws.