A lovely pinot noir that offers a medium bodied black cherry nose and flavors with some cola notes, and a hint of oak in the mouth. Ready to drink now but should evolve well over the next 2 to 3 years. It's tough to find a better value in the California pinot noir market.

Top Pick - An elegant pinot noir with layered flavors of cherry, plum, mushroom and spice. Great high-toned fruit. Balanced.

Winemaker Melissa Stackhouse's deft touch with Pinot Noir is especially impressive given how much she makes of this basic Sonoma Coast bottling. The wine is elegant and aromatic, with plenty of dark-cherry fruit.

One of the most improved producers in California. La Crema is making excellent pinot noir for a great price. Lots of forward cherry fruit fun with toasted oak and spice notes.

Nose of ripe strawberry and a bit of spice. Very smooth and harmonious in the mouth with no hard edges, just ripe fruit and a mouth-filing strawberry experience with a mineral note. A wonderful wine to drink by itself or with salmon and pork dishes. This was a favorite of several diners during a dinner.

La Crema 2007 Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California Pinot Noir is another complex Russian River Pinot Noir offering traces of fragrant flowers, black cherry and citrus rind. There's a lot to like in this sumptuous wine.

The fruit of the 2007 La Crema Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is cherries jubilee, propped up by alcohol and smooth, creamy tannins.

Black raspberry and mocha aromas and flavors; rich and ripe.

Here the nose offers up the typical herbal component from this cool growing area though it's quite subtle and certainly does not dominate the otherwise very pretty, fresh and elegant red pinot fruit aromas that give way to nicely detailed and pure medium-bodied flavors that possess good energy and punch on the relatively linear flavors that culminate in a finish where a trace of warmth manifests itself. This is actually quite pretty and very pinot and will best please those who are willing to sacrifice a bit of ripeness to have solid balance. I like this as the fruit is cool yet there is no astringency.

The 2007 La Crema Anderson Valley Pinot Noir is indeed pretty and feminine, and has tannins like silk.

Moderate garnet color. Lovely perfume of cherries and berries with sage. Powerfully flavored ripe berry fruit with a base of minerals and earth. Very friendly in the mouth with a creamy, sexy quality and plenty of vim on the tangy finish. A high-collared and impressive wine.

A very pretty nose of red raspberry, cherry, plum and violet notes that even have a hint of cranberry that carries over to delicious, fresh and lively middle weight flavors that do exhibit noticeable if not really intrusive warmth. This is attractive with good if not perfect balance.

Big and rich, with black plum and cinnamon flavors, creamy, with ripe tannins.

Rich fruit with some pepper, what John called ripe spiciness. Nice velvety texture, with a pleasant earthiness on the finish. Round, comfortable and seamless. Nothing edgy, just pleasurable.

Wine Pairing - Barley brings a hearty texture to a Sunday Supper, Baked Chicken Legs with Porcini Pilaf, while the dark meat provides a deeper flavor than white meat would. The slight earthiness from the porcini suggest a lighter-bodied Pinot Noir like the 2007 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

The winery's 2007 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which includes fruit from La Crema's estate Annapolis vineyard, is all cherry and plum, full of vivid fruit and silky tannins. Its Monterey Pinot Noir, the first vintage of which is the 2007, is more savory, first showing a taste of herbs before delivering notes of strawberry - a more dirt-driven wine, as Stackhouse herself puts it.

Wine Country recipe Herb-Marinated Chicken Skewers with Harissa paired with the spicy aromatic 2007 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

A fresh and relatively high-toned nose of raspberry and cranberry with a hint of crushed herb leads to delicious, fresh and vibrant light to middle weight flavors that possess good balance and fine length if somewhat limited depth. Still, for the SRP, this offers fine value and is worth a look in that context as there is no obvious warmth and the balance is better than any number of more expensive offerings.

Moderately tannic, fruity wines like California Pinot Noir pair well with rich sauces. Try the 2007 La Crema Monterey Pinot Noir.

La Crema specializes in pinot noir, so it isn't surprising that this wine is a class act. One of several appellation-specific pinot noirs it makes, the Russian River Valley version has great spice. Silky tannins, rich black cherry flavors.

A complex, elegant pinot with a soft texture. Aromas and flavors of strawberry, cherry, vanilla and toast. Wild and bramble. Good tannin. Long Finish.

Pinot Noir is one of California's increasingly strong suits, although quality at the right price can be hard to come by. Within that category I would include the smooth-textured and subtly oaked 2006 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

This Pinot is all about cherries: scented red cherry at the outset, then a spicy, satisfying red cherry flavor marked by a hint of soil-scented earthiness in the finish.

Rhone-like, with earthy, smoky notes. Aromas and flavors of black cherry, plum, cola and spice. Has good depth.