It may offend the easily affronted to suggest the pick of the week is second-best, especially since it’s one tier above the wine I was pining for: Alas, Siduri’s 2008 Sonoma County Pinot Noir is sold out. Candy-cherry, likable as a lollipop, irrepressibly bright fruit with a glossy finish, it was sweet-bodied and made the palate warm and happy—simple but high quality, like a pullover sweater of fine merino wool.
Siduri’s Adam and Diana Lee roam the west from Oregon’s Willamette Valley to California’s Central Coast for small lots of Pinot, which—in a singular gesture of Texan-style wine nerdiness, they crush into tanks named after the Dallas Cowboys—so no wonder that they can assemble such a spot-on, immediately enjoyable cuvée. The 2008 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($30) is just more specifically regional, more “serious”—but handily opened in a screw-cap bottle—and of course, more available. Medium-ruby and bright, its aromas of grilled raspberry and riparian bramble brush lead to warm berry fruit and characteristic cherry-cola notes. Sprightly but not too light, it bounces over the tongue to a satiny finish.
It took two tries to get the pairing right, and it’s not second-best, but second-better. First go-around was blue cheese tacos, but I must have been thinking about another wine, another time—maybe a Zinfandel: the spicy filling and the blue turned the Pinot steely cold. To compliment its subtler palate and highlight the warmth, while adhering to the theme, how about the ultimate Sonoma-Mex taco: goat cheese and mushrooms? Yes, and two days after opening, the Siduri was still up for it.
________________________________________________________________________
Chèvre and Mushroom Tacos 
serves 2
6-8 taco-sized tortillas (La Tortilla Factory handmade style corn tortillas are great for this)
1 can black beans
chèvre (Redwood Hill Farms fire roasted chili chèvre)
4-6 crimini mushrooms
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
2-4 oyster mushrooms
1 shallot
Baby spring greens mix
1/2 c. sherry
1/2 c. red wine
1-2 tbsp. olive oil or butter
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. chile powder
Set the oven to 300 degrees to warm the tortillas; meanwhile warm the chèvre by setting on stop of oven, or otherwise. Drain beans and simmer in saucepan, adding thyme, pepper, salt, and red wine. Sauté shallot in olive oil or butter to taste, add sliced mushrooms and sherry, dust with chile powder. Sauté 4 min. or until mushrooms are browned, liquid reduced. Assemble tacos: beans, mushrooms, 2 tbsp. chèvre, and spring greens. As for salsa, the beauty of this pairing is that’s not needed, so long as the ingredients are not cooked dry: the Pinot provides warmth and spice on top of the earthy flavors and creamy consistency of the chèvre. Touchdown.