california wine

Scribe Winery Vineyard: Where earthy, balanced and flavorful wines are possible.

Lucy Goodhart

One night last fall at a wine dinner at Chez Panisse, Alice Waters got up to address the dining room and made a surprising confession. “Shame on me,” she said, “for paying so little attention to California wine. I had no idea what was going on underneath my nose all this time. And to think that it was through my daughter, Fannie, that I discovered something so important around me.”

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.

Stefanie Michejda

2006 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay
Citrus and apple with a hint of toast and spice. Tightly wound, this wine insinuates that even a half bottle will keep nicely for a few years. ($22)