All Day Long!
Taste a 1983 Calera "Jenson" Pinot Noir on Saturday the 16th!
Those of us who have spent a lifetime pining for great Pinot Noir have a legitimate cause for complaint: after ignoring the grape for years, everybody's after it now. And the grape has returned their newfound affections; Pinot Noir labels crowd the shelves and wine lists. We aged Pinot Noir devotees grumble like jilted lovers thrown over for some younger guy with more cash and a flashy car. To us, Pinot Noir is popular now because of a silly, vapid movie (Sideways). It's overpriced (at least for the quality of the average wine). Moreover, few of the new Pinot Noirs are real Pinot Noir, not like the wine we fell in love with. It's changed, and we're bitter.
Aw, get over it.
Sure, there are lots of faux Pinot Noirs, with enough richness to emulate Rhone wine and reeking of Syrah blended in for color. A few California producers are even tipping a little Petite Sirah into their Pinot Noir because a handful of wine writers have no clue that Pinot Noir is not now and has never been a darkly colored wine. Heck, some great red Burgundies (that's where Pinot Noir comes from) almost look like dark rose'.
Pinot Noir is not about color and it's not about power, intensity or oomph. What Pinot Noir should be about is seduction. Silk. Suppleness. Length. Complexity. Sometimes it's earthy; sometimes it's fruity. Neither one is more correct than the other but elegance needs to happen if great Pinot Noir is present.
Of course, elegance is in the mouth of the beholder. I was raised on Pinot Noir from Burgundy, or so I like to imagine, and I'm attracted to the grape in its lighter iterations, at least when it comes to alcohol levels. Many California Pinot Noirs weigh in at fifteen percent alcohol or more and while that might make for a rich, intense Napa Cab, that octane level overwhelms the delicacy of great Pinot Noir. Remember, it's elegance we seek.
So, consider these Pinot Noirs:
1983 Calera "Jenson" Pinot Noir (Available on SATURDAY ONLY) – a little something out of my cellar, bought long ago when Calera was universally considered Pinot Noir's greatest California interpreter. Of course, there were plenty of other great producers back then, but Calera was one of the first to show a deft hand and a light touch with the grape. I sold a few of these to Japanese collectors (who seemed to think the stuff was solid gold) but kept one bottle for you!
2007 Les Jamelles Pinot Noir – southern French Pinot Noir with softness, earthiness and subtlety as the hallmarks.
2007 Elk Cove Pinot Noir – one of Oregon's best producers, and far too often overlooked. The wines have pure fruit intensity, and the smoke of oak barrels is never allowed to step in front of their lovely Pinot Noir character.
2006 Domaine Serene Yamhill Pinot Noir – maybe the most universally lovable of Oregon Pinot Noir producers: Domaine Serene pushes elegance to its intense edge. In other words, their Pinot Noirs excite both the New World big powerhouse wine lover and the traditionalist like me.
2007 Lily Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley) – a new label from the Bartholomaus family who has brought many remarkable Argentine wines to the market for decades.
2007 Montes Pinot Noir – Chile isn't hot (not like California) and the red wines produced there are often herbal and light compared to California's usual fare. Lots of people compare Chile to Bordeaux as a result and Cab and Merlot can be smooth and silky in excellent hands. But Pinot Noir is something new from Chile and lots of us think it might end up being a more reliable Chilean wine than anyone could have imagined. Montes is one of Chile's great winemakers, so their Pinot Noir gives a good indication of why the grape deserves plenty of attention in Chile.
2006 Lyeth Pinot Noir – a once unknown label producing lovely red Bordeaux blends in northern Sonoma has become a fascinating experiment from some of the smarter minds in the Gallo constellation. Perhaps surprisingly to some readers, Gallo has a good track record with Pinot Noir; historically, their Pinot Noirs have never emphasized intensity over grace.
2006 Merry Edwards Russian River Pinot Noir - Enough said...
Happy Tasting!
Doug Frost, MS MW
Master Sommelier and Master of Wine
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