2007 Pinot Noir Tous Ensemble

Wells Guthrie is moving decisively forward with his overhaul of the Copain pinot noir style, emphasizing wines that are "fresh, precise and nervous. That's the style that I like to drink, and it's the style that I'm most comfortable and confident making," he told me. "I got so tired of opening my own wines after a few years of bottle age and not finding the raciness and feminine qualities that are in the wines that I like to drink. I love Burgundy and northern Rhone wines, and what defines the best producers is elegance and precision. That's what I hope I'm going to be able to do." To that end, Guthrie has trained most of his attention on the cool vineyards of the Anderson Valley, which have been the source for most of California's best sparkling wines since the early 1980s. Guthrie has planted pinot noir around his stunning, wind-swept new hilltop winery on Eastside Road, above the Russian River, but he sells off these grapes because he finds that the fruit is riper and richer than he prefers.