Eric Asimov, the New York Times' wine writer, has a great article in this week's NYT dining section about the changing style of California Pinot Noir. Asimov declares that he favors a lighter, more subtle, food-friendly style of Pinot and I whole-heartedly concur. But while this style has long been out of favor in this state, it's starting to come back. He hits on a lot of my favorite producers (people we've featured previously in 7x7, I might add) like Au Bon Climat, Copain, Calera and Peay. All these wines are worth trying if you see them in a shop or on a wine list. None of these wines are hard to find.

In addition, I'd like to add a couple of names to Eric's NYT list. These are lower-alcohol, food friendly, nuanced California Pinots at their finest. They make you want food, which in my opinion, is one of the primary responsibilities of any wine. Check 'em out:

Couloir Wines

Zepaltas

Freeman

Lazy Creek Vineyards

Black Kite Cellars

Deloach