Giving thanks for Anderson Valley — a Pinot Noir sweet spot

I’m asked with surprising frequency which wine region in California I’m fondest of. Always, I demur out of professional courtesy and a dislike of outrunning angry mobs.

But in my heart, the answer hasn’t shifted much for most of a decade: Anderson Valley.

It was the first spot I ventured to when I came west, looking for signs of hope amid the state’s vineyards. Even today, with a boomlet of tasting rooms and a handful of ambitious new restaurants like Stone and Embers along Highway 128, this remote slice of western Mendocino remains a simulacrum of California wine in the pre-pretense days.

I’m confessing because Mendocino wine has been struggling of late. Although the region has enjoyed a minor rally as Pinot Noir’s fortunes have risen, its wines remain something of an insider’s choice.

Right now is a perfect time to reaffirm my crush, though, thanks to the wines from the 2012 vintage — many, if not all of them, from Anderson Valley. These are, quite simply, beautiful and timeless wines. They speak to the best California has to offer.

And what better time for this little disclosure than Thanksgiving? Pinot Noir remains the quintessential (but not only: http://is.gd/twheel) wine for the holiday, with its shades of autumnal comfort. And here are wines that speak of bounty close to home.

As vintages go, 2012 was a lamb, if a rather fatted one. A dry winter, but no big heat spikes, no ill-timed rains, just steady and moderate weather and an oversize crop.

That sort of year could yield easygoing but snoozy wines. But the results in Anderson Valley, at least for Pinot Noir, found a charming middle ground — ripe but not dull, savory but not thin. After three tricky years, 2012 was a godsend — and not just for Anderson Valley. Great specimens could be found throughout Mendocino County.

After tasting several dozen wines, I’d bet that its 2012s will be remembered as a return to its best qualities: evanescent fruit, clear mineral distinction, those elusive forest-like aromas that define the grape at its pinnacle.

In part, that’s because many of these wines are increasingly coming from hillside sites. If you look at my current top roster, you’ll recognize well-established names like Cerise and Morning Dew, Deer Meadows and Demuth, along with newer plantings like Wendling.

As in the past, the best wines aren’t always being made in the region itself. In recent years, too many locally made wines have been clunky or chased an overwrought style.

That remains at least partly true, and some of Anderson Valley’s best defenders, including Littorai and Copain, have cellars elsewhere. But the dance card of homegrown talent — labels like Knez, Drew, Baxter and, lately, Balo — is stronger than ever.

Together, they’re upholding California’s best traditions. It’s precisely the sort of dedication for which we should all give thanks.

A Top 10 for Mendocino Pinot Noir

2012 Waits-Mast Deer Meadows Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($55; 14% alcohol): Close students of the valley know Rich Savoy’s Deer Meadows, a site high above Boonville that has been the source for wines like Littorai’s One Acre. Jennifer Waits and Brian Mast reclaimed a single acre for themselves in 2012, and the vineyard’s lineage is evident in the glass: Deep and rich with black cherry and boysenberry, accented both by opulent allspice and damp bark, and a profound mineral signature.

2012 Drew Morning Dew Ranch Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($55; 13%): While Drew’s Fog-Eater bottling is also a standout, this effort from the vineyard farmed by Pinot legend Burt Williams (Williams Selyem) is quintessential Anderson Valley — packed with complex flavors, not showing an ounce of fat. Coppery mineral, orange, cucumber, thyme and conifer, damson plum and savory spice. Utterly pure flavors.

2012 Knez Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($32; 13.5%): Winemaker Anthony Filiberti has crafted extraordinary bottlings from both of Peter Knez’s vineyards, Cerise and Demuth, but this mix of the two sites is flat-out gulpable. Subtle, shaded in its flavors, with bright raspberry, mandarin peel, toasted cardamom and mineral intensity from the ripe vintage, a signature of the best hillside plantings.

2012 Copain Wendling Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($65, 13.6%): This debut from a younger planting across the road from Wells Guthrie’s stellar Kiser planting is stunning — brooding with damp earth and warm forest, and a mix of intense dark fruit and brilliant pomegranate highlights on the palate. It’s taut, almost raw in its flavors, begging for some time to show its depth.

2012 Baxter Valenti Vineyard Mendocino Ridge Pinot Noir ($48; 13.2%): One of two standouts from this 1,200-foot site near Greenwood Ridge, west of Anderson Valley, here handled by the two Phil Baxters (Jr. and Sr.). An innate tension, with the coppery iodine bite that seems to mark Valenti, plus chewy cherry skin, black currant and an herbal thyme-like side.

2012 Balo Vineyard Suitcase 828 Estate Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($38; 13.6%): Single-clone wines can be a boondoggle. They give up the complexity found in a diversity of vine material. But the Mullins family, with winemaker Jason Drew, pulls this one off, highlighting a little-known (unofficially “imported” via Oregon) selection of Pinot Droit vines. It’s an unusual creature, with stiff tannins and a pronounced sanguine quality that ties together bright pomegranate, watermelon skin, bass tones of toasted clove and dark fruit.

2013 Folk Machine Vecino Vineyard Potter Valley Pinot Noir ($30; 12%): Is Potter Valley truly a sweet spot for Pinot Noir? Kenny Likitprakong makes one of the strongest cases yet. He tapped this biodynamically farmed vineyard for his Folk Machine label. Soft-edged, juicy, with Douglas fir aromas, Santa Rosa plum, pomegranate and a dusty edge. Enjoy it in the moment.

2013 Donkey & Goat Broken Leg Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($38; 12.9%): A forthcoming release from Tracey and Jared Brand of Berkeley. Notably citrus-edged: kumquat and citron, with distinct spice from the use of whole clusters that bolsters its tart fruit. Its flavors are tightly wound, but there’s enough ripeness to please partisans of the more austere, Loire-ish style.

2012 Comptche Ridge Vineyards Mendocino County Pinot Noir ($47; 13.2%): A familiar vineyard to Anthill Farms fans, located outside the tiny town of Comptche, now in a different guise from owners John and Mark Weir. Profound bayberry, verbena and mint flavors, and an intense mineral core. Subtle, with a silken quality to the fruit.

2012 Skewis Wiley Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($50; 14.4%): A new vineyard for Healdsburg’s Skewis, one in the valley’s deep northern end. A bigger footprint for Anderson Valley, happily balanced with brightness: candied plum, fenugreek, roasted thyme, deep cherry compote, and terrifically juicy all through.

Jon Bonné is The San Francisco Chronicle’s wine editor. E-mail: jbonne@sfchronicle.com Twitter@jbonne