This is a pinot noir from Monterey County that has been engineered in the cellar to have zero residual sugar, 85 calories per glass, and just 9% alcohol by volume. First, making a wine so deliberately along these lines is worthy of applause. The makers are paying attention to at least one segment of the wine drinking public. Sunny With A Chance Of Flowers ($13) also appears to be widely available, as this bottle was purchased at the local grocery.
That making such a wine requires engineering says a lot about California's climate, but in fairness, outside of a handful of mountainous regions growing grapes 1% of the world has heard of, no one else is making low alcohol wines, either.
So, how is it? Inoffensive is one way to put it. There's really nothing wrong with it. It tastes pretty much like pinot. It's definitely not big in the traditional California pinot noir sense, but it does have some body to it. But the best description I can offer is that it tastes like half a wine. The other half has been engineered out of it, I assume. 86 points, including applause.
