Laurier is one of 50-some brands owned by Bronco Wine Company, best known for producing extremely inexpensive wine brands. But coming in at $20 a bottle, this is one of their pricier brands.
The juice in this bottle comes from Los Carneros, a cool and windy region that spans the southern edge of both Sonoma and Napa counties in California. It’s one of the oldest wine districts in the state, with its first plantings dating to 1870. But those first plantings didn’t last long due to a phylloxera outbreak in the 1880s. And while replanting began in 1942, the region really didn’t gain notoriety until the 1980s, when wine consumers began to take notice of the pinot noir and sparkling wines coming from this region.
The intensity of the aromas is fairly soft, but pleasant, with cranberry, cherry and violet aromatics. The palate is cherry and bacon fat. It does have a really nice mouth feel. Texture is really important part of making a wine good and this one is pretty good in that way with dry tannins and sufficient acidity. This is a nice wine, with a bit of complexity and good texture, but there’s nothing that is overwhelmingly wow-ing about it.
Wine: Laurier – Los Carneros
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $20.00
Find Laurier Los Carneros Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.