The 2006 Pinot Noir Kiana comes from a parcel planted in 1995 to clones 777 and 114. It spent 14 months in 40% new French oak. Dark ruby-colored it offers up a fragrant nose of smoke, earth notes, black cherry, and black raspberry. Medium to full-bodied, ripe, and chewy, it conceals a moderate quantity of soft tannin which should carry the wine through 2016. Willakenzie Estate remains a reliable source for well-made and fairly priced Pinot Noir. Their vineyard-designated wine are held back for an additional year before release so these 2006s are the current offerings. The differences between the various vineyard designates are subtle (each parcel has its own clonal selection, exposure, and age of vines); personally I would like to see a cuvee of the top barrels encompassing all of these sites for purposes of comparison but, alas, they do not make one. Tel. (503) 662-5026; www.willakenzie.com

WillaKenzie’s Kiana bottling comes across as rather thin, with light flavors of rhubarb, dilute cherry, leaf and herb, but suggests that it has the structure to evolve nicely over a number of years, perhaps with a Burgundian talent for deepening and broadening its flavors. Time will tell.——P.G.(12/15/2009)—— 88