Say what you will about Burgundy – about the classic nature of its red wines, the fact that at their best they may be the greatest red wines on the planet, that they age into sublime and wondrously complex creatures, and that their regional distinctions are among the world’s great mysteries. Not to mention one of its sublime delights.

But Burgundy -- at least those special bottlings and vineyard designations that we can actually buy, taste, cellar and revere – is, alas, almost no more for average people. One could even make a pretty strong case for the death of truly great Burgundy. In the sense that, for the majority of wine lovers, Burgundy has been replaced in their affections by Pinot Noir. And it is Pinot Noir from a number of places in the world that, prior to now, pleaded their cases before a public that viewed them largely as pretenders to the throne.

Now proof is on view that Burgundy’s legacy has spawned a serious threat to its dominance. The 2005 growing season in California was one of such astounding uniformity that it left Pinot wine makers with the raw materials to leap past the vast majority of red Burgundy, certainly in terms of fruit and fascination, creating a virtual sea of excellence.

Traditionalists may consider the statement that Burgundy has faded from the scene to be absurd. Great Burgundy is, I fully acknowledge, still the greatest red wine of all. And those who agree with me will argue with some sound logic that Burgundy, at its best, remains the king. They will speak to 200+ years of history, and their pleadings will drip with nostalgia for the great wines of 1930s or 1880s. And I agree, if we could ever taste those wines again. My argument is that the vast majority of the greatest red Burgundies never will be seen by the masses.

Burgundy is for the Super Rich

The fact is that the most of the greatest Burgundies today are not available to mere mortals. First, they are made in woefully minute amounts, and are preview-tasted by only a tiny handful of the most powerful critics and private wine buyers, who then make certain none of the common folk will ever get any. These wines are reserved for those who have an “in” with the right houses.

I know a man who is one such buyer. He is wealthy, as will be evident in a moment. He also has almost nothing in his cellar except great red Burgundy. He flies to Burgundy at least twice a year, and on one of those trips, he spends days tasting literally hundreds of the very greatest red Burgundies. He may know more about Burgundy than any other American. And it is he who proclaims them to still be the greatest red wines in the world.

And so, like the famed Dr. Arthur Barolet before him, he buys what he wants. He selects the best barrels, the best vineyard designates. All the major houses and most of the tiny ones know he is an important figure for the Burgundy wine trade. Because he pays cash up front. He does not write about his discoveries (and then say the wine is, alas, not available). Nor does he sell them commercially. But the property owners sell to him because they make a higher profit margin than if the wine went through a series of middlemen.

And he is not alone. Others play this game too, and that includes some wealthy Belgians, Luxemburgers, Germans and Japanese, and other high-stakes players. Many others.

And thus after all these insiders are through cherry-picking, the vast majority of the greatest wines from patchwork-quilted Burgundy have evaporated from the scene, leaving us peons with what we are told is great wine. But that “great” wine sells for many hundreds of dollars per bottle, and from what I have tasted, much of it is second-rate product – but at prices that are still outrageous, near $100 per bottle, and above.

Pinot Noir to the Rescue

Here is where Pinot Noir from California (as well as New Zealand and to a lesser degree, Oregon) comes into play. At their best, they deliver fruit and character that the second-rate Burgundies cannot.

And now with the ’05s hitting all-time highs on the quality scale, it is time to look seriously at California for the best available Pinot Noirs. If the broad market cannot evaluate Burgundy’s greatest wines, we can only take someone else’s word that they are as great as they once were. But, in at least a half dozen California regions, there are now Pinots that sing like a coloratura while delivering depths only a basso profundo could deliver.

There were inklings of California’s impending dominance with good vintages in 2003 and 2004, despite heat waves and low humidity that forced wine makers to dance to some rather discordant music.

Now come the great 2005s and the singers are in full voice. Of the 2005s I have (See Dan’s Top Ten) tasted from Santa Barbara (notably Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Maria and elsewhere), San Luis Obispo (such as Edna Valley), Monterey County (important on the Santa Lucia Highlands’ east-facing benches), and Santa Cruz Mountains, most are far better than the prior vintages.

The cooler climate of ’05 delivered a delicacy and a wisdom to these wines, and what I see in them is a purity of fruit that I once saw regularly in the greatest of Burgundies from the 1960s and 1970s. And though some of the California wines were made in tiny amounts, if you act early, you can still get some of the best. The world doesn’t yet descend like locusts on the top Pinot makers, though they are assembling on the horizon.

Run, Don’t Walk, to Russian River Valley

If the above-named areas delivered the goods, and they did, it was Russian River Valley that really shone with its Pinot Noirs in 2005. I’ve tasted a wide range of 2005s from other areas and they have been superb, but the Russian River wines generally deliver a depth of character and finesse I rarely see from so many producers at the same time.

A friend, who also makes a top-rate Pinot Noir, told me six months ago, “Wait ‘til you try the ’05s. If you couldn’t make a great ’05 Pinot, you should get out of the game.” Tasting through the wines indicates that almost no one missed it. There are variations on themes here (a few wines are a tad too ripe, a few have a bit less acidity than great aging red wines ought to have), but by and large the entire Russian River Valley delivered Mother’s Nature’s bounty in a most pleasing and classic form.

But, what about price, you say? Well, some wines are in the $50 to $80 range. For California Pinot, that may seem like a lot. But consider this: for $50 to $80, you would get only a pretty average bottle of Burgundy. And there is nothing average about the 2005 Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs.

“It’s nice to talk about a vintage where there is nothing to say about it other than it was great,” summarized wine maker Rod Berglund from Joseph Swan Vineyards. Michael Browne of Kosta Browne added, “It was quite a contrast, coming off two vintages where the furnace was turned on during the summer. We just couldn’t believe the flavors we were getting.”

Berglund joked: “There is a reason we put a number on the bottle – because the vintage differences here are very real, and this one is worth looking at!”

The challenge often in the usually cool Russian River is to get enough time on the vine to develop proper flavors without risking either sunburn, overripe flavors, or a significant drop in acidity. In 2003 and 2004, heat waves threatened to shut down photosynthesis and create port-y flavors, so vines had to be picked short of optimum. This meant that a lot of wineries were hustling to get fruit in, and it was a panic time for some, seeking to find tank space, getting fruit out of the harvest bins before they juiced and began to deteriorate.

In 2005, Berglund said, “We had a very moderate spring, and a very even bud break.” But then a headache occurred: it rained a bit in May, and the more westerly vineyards (west of Highway 116 in Western Sonoma County) were hit right in the middle of bloom. So hard hit were some vineyards that tonnage was ravaged and a few growers got no crop at all.

“Then the weather turned even and cool. Spring was cool and August was incredibly cool. Some people didn’t think we’d ripen anything, and the crop was already small to begin with. Some of us were really worried.”

But the rain never came (normally there is a spot of it in mid- to late September, and often some in October), and Berglund said, “When it was finally time to pick, we could do it at our leisure.” Many wineries picked block by block, selecting only the perfectly ripe, but not overripe sections. Even though harvest was late and some of the leaves on the vines had already begun to senesce (brown, wither and fall), “the upper canopy leaves, for the most part, were still green and healthy, so we were still getting photosynthesis.”

The result was a tiny crop of near-perfect fruit, including some clusters that featured larger berries than usual. But the flavors were letter-perfect and delivered the region’s endemic distinctiveness of strawberry and raspberry. And in this vintage there were the added features of pomegranate, violet, and mint.

The vast majority of the wines listed below have just been released, and though most show well now, almost all will be better in a year or with decanting for an hour. Also, some of these wines will go into aromatic and flavor hibernation in a few months since all Pinot Noir takes a nosedive roughly 18 months to two years after the vintage. And it means that if you should buy any of these wines now, try a few as soon as possible, then wait at least a year before getting back to them.

In most of the above cases, there is no risk in aging these wines because pH levels in most of them are far better (lower) than I have seen for a wide range of any wines over the last few years. Low pH provides a sort of insurance policy against a wine falling apart too early.

The 2005 vintage could well change the way some people make Pinot Noir in the future, said Berglund, who knows just about every Pinot producer in the Russian River. He said he was thrilled with what he was hearing: “People who typically make over-the-top [Pinot Noirs] were fearful that the cool weather wouldn’t allow them to make their kind of wines, but they say they love their ’05s — and they say they may have to rethink their old style of wine!”

In general, lower alcohol levels for the RRV PNs are a real benefit. And almost none of the wines display an overripe character.

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Dan’s Top 10 Pinot Noirs

The 10 wines listed here were my top wines from a tasting of 30 staged by the Russian River Valley Winegrowers at De Loach Vineyards. These wines are in relatively short supply, but they have all been released only in the last few weeks and there are stocks of them. Act now and you can take advantage of one of the best vintages we’ve had in a long time. Prices range from $36 and up.

2005 Dutton-Goldfield Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Freestone Hill Vineyard ($58): The most complex wine of the group, with black cherry, pepper, cinnamon/clove, raspberry, traces of lavender, pomegranate, and dried ginger, and good acidity (3.62 pH) with only 13.8% alcohol. One of the most distinctive wines in the tasting, and a wine that was made from by far the coldest region in Russian River, Freestone.

2005 Hartford Court Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Arrendell Vineyard ($48): Red cherry, pomegranate, and hints of clove and fenugreek. Another exotic wine that’s perfectly balanced (14.8% alcohol balanced by a low 3.44 pH). Quite dramatic wine. From one of Jess Jackson’s most superb properties.

2005 Williams-Selyem Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Allen Vineyard ($74): Deep red cherry with roasted berries, hints of dried herbs and a clove/brown sugar finish. There is a substantiual amount of oak here, but the fruit is stronger and the whole experience, complete with an impeccable structure, is finally based on a sold core of acid and a low 3.57 pH.

2005 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Russian River Selection ($42): Restraint is again the hallmark of this superb wine. The aroma features racy raspberry and strawberry, but it’s all reined in and rather tight. Air helps reveal great depth, and the acidity (3.44 pH) completely balances a modest 14.1% alcohol. This is a superb pick for cellaring!

2005 Moshin Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Lot 4 ($38): Explosive cherry aroma with hints of strawberries and raspberries. Complex fruit-driven wine with just a hint of oak. Only 14.0% alcohol and a superb pH of 3.48.

2005 Lynmar Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley ($36): Fairly complex wine and a very reasonable price for such a fruit depth. Wild cherry and raspberry aroma, complex note of thyme, and a sweet-ish entry (probably from 14.4% alcohol), but nicely balanced by 3.65 pH.

2005 Rutz Cellars Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Maison Grand Cru ($55): Complex aroma with herbs, brown sugar and other notes of Burgundian complexity like fresh beets and dried berries. This wine appears to be a bit more developed than most of the others, but it’s still succulent and inviting.

2005 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Cooper-Smith Vineyard ($36): A dark, dense and broodingly intense wine that needs air or time. There are almost no discernible herbal notes, and it has more ultra-ripe berries. The wine clearly needs time. This wine from a new estate vineyard is one of the winery’s best ever.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Koplen Vineyard ($62): Wild spice and pomegranate with clove and other notes of complexity. A tad “sweet” (15.3% alcohol). May be a shorter-term wine.

2005 De Loach Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Mahorski Vineyard ($42): Stylish cherry and strawberry fruit, with hints of pepper that become more evident with aeration. Succulent and deeper flavored. Nearly sweet finish, but excellent balance. Return