Thomas George Estates, Russian River Valley (Sonoma County, California) 2009

 Most still wineries really shouldn’t make sparkling wine.  It’s unusual to call a bubbly "Pinot Noir Brut Rose" and not "Blanc de Noirs," but it makes sense when you taste it.  It has the distinctive earthy aroma and dried cherry notes of Pinot Noir.  In fact, it smells like an orange tree planted in rich loamy soil.  It’s a pale salmon color and refreshingly dry, like a Provence rose with bubbles.  As a tiny-production bubbly at a new still-wine winery, it seems like a one-off hobby, but in fact I liked it the best of everything I tried at this winery.  So please don’t give up that hobby, guys.