22 Gifts For That Lady in Your Life Who's Always Throwing a Party A good bottle of wine is a pretty solid gift choice for most people. Even if your hostess friend isn't much of a wine drinker herself, chances are one or a few of her guests are. Give her a bottle of La Crema 2015 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($25), which goes great with just about everything, and call it a day.

5 Award-Winning Pinot Noirs to Drink Right Now Jackson Family Wines’ wineries are all class and this beautiful Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is characterised by the rugged beauty of the region. It is a versatile pinot noir, very popular amongst sommeliers in the US as a wine by the glass. I can picture it pairing well with a variety of meats, and would work well with many items on our Cantonese dim sum tables. This was a silver medal winner in this year's HKIWSC.

Best Wines For Mother's Day - Celebrate With Women Winemakers La Crema Pinot Noir: If you know and love wine you know the name La Crema, but you may not know that the winemaker at the vaunted vineyard is Jen Walsh. She previously worked for numerous Napa and Sonoma wineries, but her passion has always been cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which happens to be La Crema’s specialty - for more than 35 years. Pinot Noir may be the perfect Mother’s Day red, because it straddles so many food pairings, soft enough to go with traditionally white wine dishes but robust enough to pair with meats, perfect for a mixed-course brunch, and if your mom loves Pinot, you are in luck - La Crema makes a staggering 18 different labels from its vineyards across Sonoma, Monterey and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, ranging from $23-$90. My top picks would include the 2015 Sonoma Coast, bargain for $25, which is complex but full bodied, and the Yamhill-Carlton ($45) from Oregon for a softer and more nuanced Burgundian style. The top tier is the Nine Barrel from the Russian River Valley ($90).

Wine Pairings for Roast Chicken Poultry-Friendly Pinots
 Four wines with the ideal spice notes to make your bird soar: ...2015 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, $25 


Best Buys in the Market, 1 star New Pinots will be featured in next month’s edition, but a few recent Best Buys favorites deserve mention while they still might be found…and four very affordable bottlings, the (One Star)*LA CREMA Sonoma Coast 2015, its cellarmate, the (One Star)*LA CREMA Monterey 2015...

Wine of the Week Sherry: “Dry but fruity with big raspberry and black cherry flavors; clove and vanilla on the finish.” (3.75 stars out of 5) Chris: “An earthy and leathery nose with bright cherry and vanilla flavors with a silky finish.” (3.75 stars out of 5)

Now in its fourth vintage, La Crema's Willamette Pinot Noir is made in the Sonoma-based winery's richly concentrated and silky house style yet offers an attractive mix of fruity and earthy aromas and flavours that reflect the quintessential Oregon flavour profile. Grapes were harvested from eight vineyards in the Willamette Valley, including the estate Gran Moraine vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton appellation and Zena Crown vineyard in Eola-Amity Hills appellation. The result is a fragrant, elegant and exceptionally smooth Pinot that's ready to drink. Four stars.

La Crema was established 40 years ago in California’s Russian River Valley. But in 2012 they extended their Pinot Noir portfolio to include wines made from the highly acclaimed Pinot Noir vineyards of Oregon. Starting in 2012, they began making wines from the AVAs of McMinnville, Eola-Amity and Dundee Hills and now harvest fruit from their own vineyards. They make several Pinot Noirs, a Chardonnay and sparkling wines from Oregon fruit. Expect impressive brightness overall; however, it is an earthy and more sleekly muscled version of their California styles. Tangy wild berries, fine spice and dried roses with forest floor and tealeaf best describe this wine’s aromatic profile and palate. The tannins are polished. Four stars.

Sonoma County, Calif.-based La Crema expanded its production to Oregon where it produces this Willamette pinot noir and a range of more expensive reserve wines. Made in richly concentrated and silky La Crema style this offers an attractive mix of fruity and earthy aromas and flavours. It’s a fragrant, elegant and exceptionally smooth pinot that’s ready to drink. Four stars.

DIY Four-Course Dinner Paired with Oregon Pinot Noir You’ll often find savory notes in Oregon Pinot Noir – hints of mushroom, sage and coffee. Some almost have a “meaty” characteristic to them. The 2015 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($30) from La Crema definitely showed those qualities. It also had aromas of star anise, bay and orange zest. I thought that it would be the perfect wine to pair with our main course, Sheet Pan Salmon with Pickled Ginger Butter. The hint of star anise was amazing with the pickled ginger, and it’s warm citrus notes worked so well with the delicate salmon, but more hearty mushrooms. For me, it was the showstopper of this four-course meal.

Wine of the Week The 2015 vintage in the Willamette Valley was considered to be excellent, with high quality and high yields. This pinot is fully ripe but not overripe, and it has a lovely woodsy quality to complement its lively, dark raspberry fruit and baking spice flavors. It finishes with fine tannins and a supple texture. At $30, it’s not cheap, but the price is reasonable relative to the quality. The wine is a good choice for Saturday’s National Pinot Noir Day. No matter what pinot you like to drink, there’s a good chance that your favorite producer has some sort of promotion going on, so check it out.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of this Jackson Family Wines brand, originally named La Crema Vinera – which translates to “best of the vine.” Craig McAllister has taken over the Willamette Valley winemaking for Elizabeth Grant-Douglas, and his approach seems to be akin to “don’t mess with success.” The barrel program of nine months in 100% French oak, 25% new, remains a constant, and there’s a focus on two estate vineyards – Gran Moraine in the Yamhill-Carlton American Viticultural Area and Zena Crown in the Eola-Amity Hills. Those sites allowed Grant-Douglas and McAllister, who took over in 2015, to increase production by nearly 23 percent from the prior vintage. The collaboration has created aromas of Montmorency cherry, dark blueberry and pink strawberry. Flavors are filled with bright red fruit, led by boysenberry, and include anise and lime zest. Suggested pairings range from pepper-crusted prime rib, rosemary rack of lamb, sautéed salmon, lentil soup with tarragon, curried mussels and Chicken Masala. Excellent.

Drawn from eight vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, La Crema Pinot Noir 2015 delivers a deftly balanced blend of the sensuous and the serious. Aged a sensible nine months in French oak, 24 percent new barrels, the wine displays a dark ruby hue shading to a transparent rim and vivid aromas of black cherries and plums inflected by notes of sassafras and sandalwood, pomegranate and beetroot; it flows across the palate in an array of satin drapery that’s dense and almost chewy, though animated by brisk acidity that lends liveliness and spareness to the texture. A few minutes in the glass deepen all effects, bringing in hints of ripe raspberry and raspberry leaf, boxwood and flint, all leading to a finish that feels wholly complete and integrated. 14.5 percent alcohol. This pinot noir has the structure to pair with pretty hearty fare, but my choice would be medium rare duck breast served with farro and a pan-reduction. Excellent.

Cherry and pencil aroma. Minerals and stone mix with the red fruit on the palate. Nice body, lingering finish. Good plus.

A statewide tour of California pinot noir 2015 La Crema Monterey textbook varietal character.

La Crema continues to produce high quality, great value Pinot Noirs. The 2015 Monterey is an elegant, complex wine of excellent quality. Velvety in texture and full bodied, it is moderately rich, well balanced, and long on the finish, tasting of cherry, red currant, raspberry, toast, black tea, and oak. 4+ stars, excellent.

Best Buys in the Market, 1 star New Pinots will be featured in next month’s edition, but a few recent Best Buys favorites deserve mention while they still might be found…and four very affordable bottlings, the (One Star)*LA CREMA Sonoma Coast 2015, its cellarmate, the (One Star)*LA CREMA Monterey 2015...

Hint of oak, aromas and flavors of black cherries and mocha, complex, rich and smooth. Long finish.

Full of sweet red fruit, candied cherry, licorice root, baking spice and cola. The intensity of the sweetness on the palate renders the wine a little too flabby for my tastes. There is some pleasant red fruit, tannins are light, but more acidity would be welcome.

La Crema is making a lot of good juice in California and Oregon. This gem has forward plum flavors with a dash of spice and tobacco.

The estate wines definitely show their difference. The 2014 Saralee's Vineyard Chardonnay invites a lemon meringue comparison to the rather wispy set of other Chards, and the 2014 Saralee's Vineyard Pinot Noir murmurs about spicy, raspberry herbal tea, while the 2015 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir boasts, shyly, about vanilla, raspberry and cola.

The grapes were primarily fermented in open-top tanks and then punched down several times a day to give the wine intense, complex aromas and flavors. We like the earthy character of the wine and its effusive strawberry, cola flavors. Hints of chocolate and spice.

Best Wines For Mother's Day - Celebrate With Women Winemakers La Crema Pinot Noir: If you know and love wine you know the name La Crema, but you may not know that the winemaker at the vaunted vineyard is Jen Walsh. She previously worked for numerous Napa and Sonoma wineries, but her passion has always been cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which happens to be La Crema’s specialty - for more than 35 years. Pinot Noir may be the perfect Mother’s Day red, because it straddles so many food pairings, soft enough to go with traditionally white wine dishes but robust enough to pair with meats, perfect for a mixed-course brunch, and if your mom loves Pinot, you are in luck - La Crema makes a staggering 18 different labels from its vineyards across Sonoma, Monterey and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, ranging from $23-$90. My top picks would include the 2015 Sonoma Coast, bargain for $25, which is complex but full bodied, and the Yamhill-Carlton ($45) from Oregon for a softer and more nuanced Burgundian style. The top tier is the Nine Barrel from the Russian River Valley ($90).

Jackson Family Wines invested in the Willamette Valley to create cool-climate Pinot Noir, and here's another delicious example from a warm vintage in the Pacific Northwest. Elizabeth Grant-Douglas collaborated with eight vineyards, primarily in the Yamhill-Carlton and Eola-Amity Hills growing regions for this deliciously balanced, fruit-forward Pinot Noir. Her reliance on only French oak, 23% of those being new barrels for nine months, shows pleasing integration with aromas of Bing cherry and cocoa with light toast, caramel and a whiff of charcuterie. It's loaded with high-toned red fruit flavors - cherry, raspberry and currants - that combine to stay ahead of the Craisin skin tannins and roasted coffee finish. Suggested pairings range from pepper-crusted prime rib, rosemary rack of lamb, sautéed salmon, lentil soup with fresh tarragon, curried mussels and Chicken Masala. Nearly 100 percent of this production came estate fruit, allowing Jackson Family Wines to increase production by nearly 40 percent from the 2013 vintage.

Now in its third vintage, the Oregon version of La Crema’s pinot noir program is a stunning wine. Generous aromas with fruit-forward, ripe plum and blackberry flavors and a soft texture. Incredibly delicious.