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.

Oh, Canadians! The maple leaf flies proudly abroad, through these notable wines Elizabeth Grant-Douglas hails from St. Catharines and was one of the first to graduate from Brock University’s wine program. She brought those cool-climate skills to California’s premier Pinot- and Chardonnay-producer La Crema and has created this easy-drinking Pinot, loaded with cran-cherry and a touch of spice.

Those who haven’t visited the Russian River Valley in California’s Sonoma County, owe themselves a real treat for the majestic scenery and delicious wines. Winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas used 70% whole berry fermentation followed by nine months aging in French oak. This elegant Pinot Noir is a real winner with salmon, offering complex cherry and plum with nuances of spice, cocoa, tobacco and a finish of vanilla and toasty oak.

Once again La Crema comes through with a delicious well-crafted pinot noir. Berry and plum nose and flavors with a nice spice element. Medium bodied and very quaffable especially slightly chilled in the summertime.

A consistently good pinot noir from year to year, La Crema offers a wine big in cherry and plum fruit with a hint of coffee. Well-made and balanced.

This is a sleek pinot noir with concentrated Bing cherry fruit, coupled with crisp acid. A hint of mineral and white pepper in the mix. It's a smart pick. A standout.

Our Wine of the Week, La Crema 2013 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($25), is a lovely choice for celebrating Earth Day, as it has a pleasingly loamy foundation, an earthiness punctuated by flavors of allspice, cocoa, licorice root and good black tea. Above this foundation is a bright melody of acid, citrus zest, Queen Anne cherry, Bing cherry and a flourish of pomegranate, characteristics that begin in the wine’s bouquet and resolve on the palate. The wine is on the darker side of pinot noir, with a rich concentration of flavors and a lush mouthfeel, qualities that have become increasingly popular over the last decade or two. It is more velvety than satiny, attributes that can be key to successful pairings.

Aromas of pie, cherry, cocoa and black tea mixed with pomegranate, plum and orange zest flavours make for a sumptuous wine from California's Sonoma Coast.

If you’ve ever wondered what effect climate has on wine look no further than the exquisite 2013 Pinot Noir from La Crema. Born from the glorious pastoral that is the Sonoma Coast, this wine truly earns the name La Crema (the best in Italian.) Now the other vintages of La Crema’s pinot noir are nothing to sneeze at however, the 2013 it quite exceptional. The cooler weather of the 2013 harvest season allowed for the grapes to stay on the vine much longer than they would normally which leads to a richer more layered wine. As if that were not enough to make an incredible wine, the people at La Crema use their hands-on, artisan techniques to craft all of their wines including hand pressing the grapes and aging in classic, French, oak barrels. The result of this is a pinot noir that distills the Sonoma Coast into one remarkable wine. As for the taste, it has a rich aroma of cherry, cocoa, and black tea with a seductively smooth pomegranate, plum and orange zest flavor creating a fantastic wine that lingers with you just like the region it hails from.

Always one of our favorite pinot noirs, the La Crema has another blockbuster. Reasonably priced for a pinot noir, it sports juicy plum and cherry flavors. Very lush texture.

Finally, enjoy the first foray into Oregon by California's Jackson Family Wines, under the moniker of its pinot noir and chardonnay specialist, La Crema. The 2013 Willamette Valley ($30) sports plum and cherry fruit compote in an easily enjoyable style with enticing oak and a lush texture.