People in the wine industry — writers, especially — rely on an awful lot of generalizations.

The danger of over-generalizing was reinforced recently after the wine panel tasted 20 bottles of Oregon pinot noir.

Now, what follows is the sort of generalizing that I warned about earlier, so be wary. The ’07 growing year was cool and rainy. Those producers who met the challenge were largely able to make balanced wines with moderate levels of alcohol and a lot of freshness, which comes from good acidity.

By contrast, the ’06 vintage was easier in terms of the weather, and producers were able to harvest riper grapes and produce bigger, richer wines.

The wines were about equally divided among the two vintages — 11 of the 2007s, and 9 of the 2006s — but of our top 10, seven were 2007s…

Our best value was our No. 3 bottle, the 2007 WillaKenzie Estate, with its restrained, balanced flavors and creamy texture.

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