Belle Pente Pinot Noir 2007 Yamhill-Carlton District. It's my new last name.

So you'll remember how my charming, wonderful sister who is a student at Harvard (that never gets old) was so marvellous and kind a few weeks ago and brought me back FIVE wines from Cambridge. FIVE WINES! AND I got to talk to Eileen the Cardullo's wine steward on the phone so she could pick my brain about my likes and dislikes. So lucky am I! The wine came with strict instructions not to be opened without first consulting Eileen about each bottle's history, terroir etc. Well sorry Lorri and Eileen, but I went ahead and opened a bottle without permission. I figured I have enough drinking experience to wing it.

I brought the Pinot Noir from Oregon to the cottage with me yesterday. More specifically Belle Pente 2007 Yamhill-Carlton District Pinot Noir. Otherwise know as THE BEST WINE I'VE EVER TASTED. No foolin'. For reals. After all those Pinot Noirs I've sifted through, looking for one that didn't disappoint, here was perfection. Its as though Dionysus himself patted me on the backside and whispered in my ear "It's your lucky day." Putti sang heavenly music and shot magic arrows at my heart when I popped the cork from the bottle. It was so glorious, I wanted to dab it behind my ears like expensive perfume. I immediately called Lorri and ranted on my cellphone for 30 minutes about the virtues of this wine. I don't just have love for this wine, I have LUST for this wine. And how cruel that my new liquid love came all the way from Cambridge, and now where the hell am I going to find it here in Ontario? Moan! I find the Alan Rickman/Christian Rinaldo hybrid of wine and I only have access to one bottle! Denied! Unfair! Justice!

People wherever you may be, take my advice. If you love Pinot Noir and want to float on a purple cloud of ecstasy, find a way to buy this wine. Get on a plane, a train, jet skis or omnibus. Have your kind American friends smuggle bottles through an underground railroad. Hide some in your beehive hairdo whilst crossing the border. Just GO and get this wine. It's so, so, so totally worth it.

'Til next time,

B.