Last night Betsy made duck with a demi-glace & herb sauce, along with
green beans and brown rice. The wine was the 2001 Belle Pente Pinot
Noir (Willamette Valley).
I have really liked some of the single vineyard Pinots from Belle Pente
before, and looked forward to this one. Quite light-colored, a pretty
earthy/cherry nose. Good acidity, lots of mushroom/earth aromas. The
fruit is a bright cherry. The issue I had with this wine was the
concentration- a pretty enough wine, but not enough oomph there. Now
I'm not a fruit-bomb man, but this is just not quite concentrated
enough for me. The single vineyard Wahle and Murto are only a few
dollars more, and are worth the difference. Not a bad wine-blind I
think I would have guessed something like 2000 Bourgogne from a
middling producer- but not enough to stand up to the duck. B/B-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of
consistency.