Great Wines for 2020 — Get a Head Start With This Pinot Noir

This holiday season has been full of satisfying pours — including a number of California Cabernet Sauvignons and a Loire “pet nat” — and it’s not over until January 1 at midnight. Great news, no? Whatever you are planning for New Year’s Eve, assemble a selection of wines suitable for ringing in 2020 and celebrate well.

I received a bottle of pinot noir recently, and decided to open it one night last week, part of a small Ppnot tasting — and I paired it with hamburgers, which turned out to be a great decision. The 2015 Estate Pinot Noir from Domaine Anderson ($39) would make your next burger night that much better (and I’m going to try it with lamb chops soon).

The Anderson Valley AVA is the source of some great pinot noirs (not to mention the worthy chardonnays, rieslings and sauvignon blancs that emanate from the AVA), and Domaine Anderson’s 2015 is one of them. It spent 15 months in French barrels — 19 percent new oak. Grapes from eight sites were harvested in late August and early September. Punchdowns took place once or twice a day for 12 days, and the wine was blended and bottles with loose filtration. The winemaker fermented in open-top stainless steel (90 percent) and open-top wood tank (10 percent).

The result? A decidedly fruit-forward yet balanced wine that one could drink daily and not tire of. Red fruit, especially cherry, dominate the aroma in this dark-red pinot. You will taste those fruits, but you’ll also recognize some savory notes — spice (nutmeg, if only slight), mushroom, soil. Alcohol is at 13.9 percent.

As for pairings, go ahead and enjoy this with the aforementioned burgers, and I know that sausage pasta and lamb chops would also love this Domaine Anderson offering. Drink now, or cellar until 2022.