Carmel Road Winery

Carmel Road is a Monterey County-based brand that’s part of the Artisans & Estates portfolio, owned by Jess Jackson (of Kendall-Jackson) and his family. The brand is focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in two tiers: less-expensive Monterey appellation wines and pricier bottlings with an Arroyo Seco appellation.

The grapes for this Arroyo Seco Pinot are sourced from two estate vineyards in that cool-climate AVA. Winemaker Ivan Giotenov ages the wine for 14 months in French oak, 41 percent of it new. The wine is on the opulent side, but it’s not over the top, displaying ripe, spicy flavors of raspberry and cherry and a firm core of acidity. It has a lovely, supple texture. The wine still shows some obvious oak at this stage, so it would probably benefit from another year or two in the bottle. If you don’t want to wait that long, drink it now with dishes ranging from grilled salmon or ahi tuna to roast chicken to mushroom risotto. Heck, it’s so tasty that you could drink it with anything that’s not too delicate. At $35, this Pinot Noir may not be an everyday wine, but it’s worth a small splurge.

Reviewed February 1, 2007 by Laurie Daniel.