If you're old enough to remember the "French Paradox" you remember that CA Merlot sales took off afterwards. And it's happening again with Pinot mostly because of "Sideways" and because wine is trendy (a topic for another time).
I love Pinot Noir. It's not too in-your-face (usually), not too high in alcohol (usually), and mostly because it versatile enough to go with many different foods or is great just by itself. I really love Russian River Valley Pinot. Yes, I have a local palate. Can't help that!
Pinot Noir is great young, with a few years of bottle age, and goes with lots of foods or just by itself. I use it to sub in when you're "supposed" to be having a white wine; such as with seafood.
However, supply and demand have kicked in. I see lots of $40 Pinots and maybe 25% are really good and worth the money. The good news, in Sonoma anyways, is there has been a lot of Pinot planted in the last five to ten years and there's still a lot in the pipeline. Maybe supply will catch up and we'll see some really good $25 Pinots in a couple years.
Some Pinot Noirs to look for in the $35 range (not sure on availability in retail outlets):
Balletto, Pellegrini, Russian Hill, Selby.
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