If I were to say Lost Canyon Winery the first thing that may come to the more educated oenophile is “Garage Winery!”. While not entirely true, Lost Canyon does have a fair history behind it with said Garage and wine crafting. Fact is this urban winery is now making it’s name as a single-lot Pinot (and Syrah) specialist. Lost Canyon belongs to the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance a small collection of San Francisco ‘East Bay’ wine makers, and thus the urban reference. Only producing commercially since 2001 this winery has done a solid job in earning it’s name as a maker of good consistent quality Pinot’s. I purchased this wine in question in early 2009 on one of my trek’s through San Francisco, so without further blabbing what did we find?
As the cork was removed this wine oozed subtlety. A light hint of strawberry and a tad bit of toasty oak hit the nose. A light coloured pinot once poured into the glass, vanilla starts to take over your nose with an almost candied smell that will get you later as you move into the bottle. A few good slurps later and you are finding a wine that is forward on the palate but lingers at the end. Tannins are small and you could almost say this wine is a tad too smooth. If you enjoy 1er Cru Burgundy’s you may find this too tame for your liking. Also if you were to pair this with a spicy or forceful dish you would expect it to disappear. Overall it is a pleasant drinking wine but for the price ($42US) you would expect a bit more. As we worked through the wine it simply never jumped out in any sense. Pleasant is the best way to describe it, if not for the price I would recommend it for a regular drinking wine.
The CWGSR is 85 out of 100. (might have been higher if the price was lower, but bang for buck meter dropped the rating)
