(Bob Gregg, 7:48 pm) (Posted to: Wine)
2007-10-08: Mark West Pinot Noir 2005
Last night we had a couple of Sonnet’s friends over who were not wine drinkers. One drinks wine a bit, but only really drinks reds. We were having some barbecue pork chops, and it was pretty hot, so I pulled out a bottle of Mark West Pinot Noir 2005. Typical cheap Pinot - light body, a little cherry taste, not much more. This stuff is about as ubiquitous as wine gets; I probably picked it up at Costco, for around $12.
Now here’s the thing: it’s not worth $12. Sorry. There are some truly good dinner wines to be had for that price, but throwaway Pinot isn’t one of them. You can get throwaway Pinot for $8, and they all seem to be more or less interchangeable. Heck, I’ve even had Pinot in a box (French Rabbit) that was almost as good. Mark West may be a bit above the others, but not 50% more. So if you see this one sale under $10, maybe; otherwise, that’s $2 that could have gone towards a better bottle.