The search for an exceptional “value priced” Pinot Noir is over (for now anyway). Planet Oregon is the second label for Oregon’s Soter Vineyards. It is consistently one of North America’s best value Pinot Noirs, and this 2021 Oregon Pinot Noir is particularly tasty and consumer-friendly. This juicy, ripe and pretty Pinot maintains its Willamette Valley cool-climate classiness. Ripe raspberry and cranberry fruitiness with bits of black truffle, dry French herbs and dried orange zest. You can happily drink this without food, but of course it’s better at the dinner table.
And if you like your Pinots with even more fruitiness and “bigness,” get the Luli Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands 2021, another fine value at $28/bottle and one of the many Pinot Noirs from California I carry.