Pair this jammy pinot noir from California with pizza and pasta

Wine’s flavor is more deeply affected by the place where it is grown than most agricultural products. Everything about the land informs how its wine will taste, from macro-level factors like latitude and terrain to micro-level nuances like soil composition. This helps explain why a wine’s “appellation,” the formal region of grape origin, is the most important quality factor listed on wine labels.

Within any larger wine region, such as California, vineyard zones that make the best wines will establish their own smaller appellations – like Napa Valley or Sonoma Coast — to distinguish their wines and increase their value. That’s why the most expensive wines tend to come from the smallest appellations, while the largest are associated with cheaper everyday wines.

California wines, which do not list a smaller region of origin on the label have almost always been sourced from the state’s vast, baking-hot Central Valley. This region is better suited to producing large crops of table grapes than high-quality fine wine grapes, which need cooler growing regions like those closer to the coast. However, as wine prices continue to rise in more prestigious coastal appellations, some vintners like Angeline are getting creative by blending together fruit from multiple regions and counties, aiming to produce more balanced wines than could be crafted from Central Valley fruit alone.

This pleasingly plump pinot noir makes a perfect example, where grapes from cool coastal zones both north and south of the Bay Area brighten up jammier fruit from warmer zones further inland. The result is a gulpable mid-weight red with flavors of cherry cola and raspberry pie, ideal for pairing with pizza or pasta.

$10.99 13.8% alcohol

PLCB Item #8247

Sale price through 10/3 – regularly $13.99

Also available at:

Canal’s of Berlin Discount Liquor Mart in Berlin - $11.99, canalsofberlin.com; Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville, N.J. - $12.99, lawrenceville.jcanals.com; Total Wine & More in Claymont, Del. - $12.99, totalwine.com.