Finding affordability in the Pinot Noir category can seem challenging, so discovering a batch of well-made bottles at reasonable prices, as in this week’s Tasting Highlights, is a boon. From single-vineyard bottlings to regional blends and multi-appellation mélanges, this group of California wines offers a range of origins and styles, but with a common thread of relative affordability: Each red is priced less than $40.
With a wine at the top of the list, Domaine Eden is the sister winery to Mount Eden Vineyards, a pioneering Santa Cruz Mountains winery initially founded in 1945. Situated on a nearby mountaintop, the property was developed in 1983 as the home of Cinnabar Winery; Mount Eden acquired the site, renaming it, in 2007. Today, Domaine Eden offers noteworthy Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet at lower prices than Mount Eden. Still, the wines are ideal entrees into Mount Eden's house style. This vintage, below, has nice energy with racy cherry and damson plum fruit flavors.
This lineup also features Bravium's Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Wiley Vineyard 2022, which has good energy and dark fruit and rose hip notes. Read on to get our score and full expert tasting note for this fantastic California Pinot Noir and seven others.
Tasting Highlights' wine reviews are fresh out of the tasting room, offering a sneak peek of our editors' most recent ratings—including scores and full tasting notes—to WineSpectator.com members.
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