California: Russian River
Creeps in on its little cat feet over your mouth, plush and cushiony. The lasting impression is gentleness and has soft textures and balance of earth and fruit flavors.

Forward with ripe, accessible fruit -- a black cherry so juicy it bursts when you bite it -- along with moist, sensuous forest scents that make you think of redwood valleys.

California: Carneros
For all that wind and weather from the bay, Carneros Pinot smells of earth -- clays and loams that often give off aromas of mushrooms, sage, even bacon. The fruit is almost always the light red type -- wild strawberries, Rainier cherries...Can smell like peaty humidity of a coastal cranberry bog.

Oregon
In bad vintages -- overly cool, or too much rain at the wrong time -- the wines could be watery, green-tasting or irritatingly tart. distinct spectrum of flavors that range from deep earthy blueberry to cherries dipped in red clay... They exhibit cool weather character, which many compare to Burgundy: taut as a drum skin, firm in the mouth, often with cool autumn, herbal and fallen-leaf aromas.