We all saw Sideways -- heck, to some of us, it's not just a movie, it's a manifesto. So we know that we're supposed to admire Pinot Noir and barely tolerate Merlot (it's not the demon grape it's made out to be).

The folks at Castle Rock winery are contributing to the dialog on Pinot Noir, and they put their answer in bottles.

Castle Rock currently bottles juice from seven species of grape, each chosen by informed vintner magic from its own West Coast microclimate with the appellation noted on the bottle.

Thus Castle Rock Chardonnay drinkers are choosing bottles from either the Russian River Valley or the Central Coast, Syrah drinkers choosing between Columbia Valley and Sonoma, and so forth.

In the wine as in the geography, the star grape is Pinot Noir, which for the 2007 vintage offers bottles from eight appellations. Some are easy to come by and some are selling out, and I can't pretend to have tried all eight (though I'm working my way through the list).

But I can pass along a few notes on those I have tried, which perhaps will inspire you to consider these sturdy, poetic Pinots the next time you're looking for a bottle to open with dinner.

My suggestions after the jump.

I encountered Castle Rock '07 Sonoma County Pinot Noir at a tavern I've been know to frequent and whose sommelier I trust. (This is the same individual who introduced me to Babich Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps my favorite table wine).

It was late January, cold and dark by 4 in the afternoon, and we were in the back room by a fireplace that has been warming travelers since, I believe, the Revolutionary War. After narrowing the wine list down to a California Pinot Noir and an Argentinian Malbec, I asked for a recommendation between the two. Without hesitation, the response was the Pinot, and with all due respect to what I'm sure was a worthy Argentinian red, my palette and my heart were won.

After dinner, at the wine store around the corner from the tavern (no relationship between the two; I asked), I discovered that there were two bottles of that selfsame Pinot from different appellations, and both traveled through the snow home with me. It's now past the Equinox, and I've gone through a few bottles of both.

In looking at my notes from the '07 Sonoma I tried with that dinner, I see that I wrote "deep fruit, pepper, really wakes up after corkage." This was true with a tavern burger with potato gratin and a fancy salad (definitely a Malbec meal, but I'm done apologizing for that).

I wanted to see if it was true with other foods and discovered that, while my notes held up to the wine, the wine surpassed my notes. Decanted, the '07 Sonoma blossoms. A deep well of red fruit opens the experience, topped with a tease of red peppercorns. Then those "haunting flavors" Miles so famously discussed glide in, almost elusively: juicy summer plums and sweet berries waltz with a woodsy spiciness that plays off of a smoky capsicum midnote, with a lingering finish somewhere between moss and leather.

Some of this playfulness is attributable to the fact that Castle Rock Pinot Noir is tarted up with some Syrah grapes. This is especially evident in Castle Rock '07 Mendocino Pinot Noir, the other of the appellations (along with the Sonoma) that is selling out in my local wine stores and online. If the Sonoma is a walk in the woods then the Mendocino is the picnic at the end of the walk. Red fruit still dominates at the nose, attended by meadow flowers. A waft of pie spices leads into a blackberry briar which in turn tangles with cherries and rhubarb, before finishing with a mellow California sunset of caramel and smoke.

Especially with Syrah in the mix, some purists will quibble over the Pinot-ness of the wines. And to some perhaps it is too soon to be drinking '07 reds. But Castle Rock's intentions, as I understand, are to craft wines that respect and represent the best of the West Coast but putting its geography into a bottle. This mission has applications both practical and mystical, and I believe that Castle Rock meets both.

Wine Spectator doesn't disagree -- they awarded the 06 Columbia Valley an 86. This will be the year and climate I try next -- look for the results here on Slashfood.

As a table wine, both Castle Rock Pinot Noirs work very well with simple beef dishes such as flank steak and hamburgers, and would pair nicely with either roasted pork or spring lamb.

Castle Rock wines are widely available in wine stores and online where not prohibited by law. Castle Rock Pinot Noirs average $13 a bottle