February 27, 2006

Five Papapietro Pinots for Tasting

I should probably just leave Papapietro-Perry (Healdsburg, CA) out of the blog altogether because the woman pouring treated me like Hillary Clinton at the Cheney family barbeque. Besides, their wines start at $45, which is way too expensive for our Cheapfunwines purposes. But for a $5 cover charge I like to try the expensive ones. That way you can find cheap bottles that taste just as good.

I'd heard it was a hot new winery because it makes Pinots, those precious wines (Yes, they're hard to grow...ye ole temperamental grape, the perfect beam of sparkling sun required to nourish its winsome leaves, blah blah) that sent every doofus who saw "Sideways" out running to buy Wine for Dummies in hopes that he could look like Paul Giamatti and bag a babe like Virginia Madsen with some Pinot poetry. OK that was mean. Anyhow, Papapietro is a near one-trick pony, crafting five, count em FIVE Pinots and a handful of Zins. I was intrigued. So we rolled on over from Petersons Winery nearby.Papapietro was crowded because of that Sideways phenomena I am sure, and I opened with a few questions. "What's the difference between the Pinots?" I asked. I never did get an answer and left after tasting just one Pinot, of which I have little say. Other folks, however, have a lot of good to say about Papapietro, which is probably why I'll return next time we head to wine country. The SF Chronicle, for one, says the 2004 Papapietro Perry Elsbree Vineyards Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($45) has "complex aromas of cola, toast, cranberry and raspberry are repeated on the palate, along with hints of cocoa and spice. It's medium-bodied and softly tannic - both a fine sipper and a supper companion." I wish I'd tried it!!

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