WTN: Pinot from All Over

Notes from a very pleasurable dinner with Pinot Noirs, the wines tasted blind.

With Tomato Gaspacho, parmesan Feuillete:

2004 Vincent Girardin Santenay Prem. Cru ‘Le Beaurepaire’ – an initial lime vanilla impression with some nutmeg, and a supple wine with bright acidity. Very nice.

With Tuna Salad Nicoise Style, Black Olive Tapenade, Pistou and White Wine Emulsion.

2005 Ch. de la Charriere Clos Rousseau Santenay Prem. Cru – made by Yves Girardin, this was a natural one to have after the white. A concentrated sweet cherry nose, the wine forward and friendly on palate with only slight tannin and good length. A pretty wine to be drunk over the next few years.

2004 Cristom Eileen Pinot Noir (Willamette) – the beginning of a long spate of non-Burgs, this wine had a sweet nose of cola and flowers and some spice, was also spicy in the mouth and showed some complexity. An interesting comparison with the Burgundy.

With Grilled Quail and Sautéed sweetbread, Lemon and Green Pea Risotto, Morel Mushroom Sauce.

1998 Panther Creek Freedom Hill Vd. – lovely nose of raspberry fruit and cinnamon. I found the wine to dry significantly at the end and to maintain a fairly high level of tannin as well as acidity. I’m not sure what additional cellaring would do for this one.

2002 Felton Road Pinot Noir – a stinky slightly metallic nose, and on palate spice, all the way through into the long finish. Slightly high terminal acidity.

With Roasted Wenzel Duck Breast, Glazed Turnip, Pomme Dauphine, Cherry and Pinot Noir Jus.

1998 Groffier Bonnes Mares Grand Cru – for me, the wine of the night. Dark with an intense nose and great depth, this wine changed quite a bit from being possibly something other than Burgundy when first opened to being unmistakably Burgundy as it aired and settled in. Good depth, nice, sweet clean fruit on palate. An elegant wine, this is ready to drink now.

1990 Jacques Prieur Volnay Santenots – a real low tide at the beach nose, medium body, mature with more acid than tannin at the end. More pleasant to drink than that description makes it sound!

With cheese:

1992 Dom. Drouhin Laurene – a very slightly metallic strawberry nose and nice fruit in midpalate, but the finish was slightly short and a bit acidic. While this wine has stood up well, and in fact showed some signs of a youthful wine, I had to wonder if it wasn’t better a few years ago.

2004 Dom. Serene Evenstad Reserve – interesting iron and latex nose, with lots of oak, but well integrated, nice fruit on palate and a nice smooth finish. The nose became a bit sweeter with time in the glass. I don’t see this medium body wine as a long ager.

Very nice event, and the feature for me was reacquainting myself with Oregon Pinots. We had many of these in BC in the old days, then they hit some poor vintages, and when they came back the prices were much higher, to the point where few people buy them in this market as they can get decent Burgundies for less money. Perhaps with the state of the American dollar, this situation will change – we are already seeing some price drops in the Californian wines.

Thanks for your notes on my favorite red grape variety. I enjoy the Pinot Noir from anywhere comparisons.

[Jenise]

My notes, but first a comment on your conclusion: now you know why I was a little restrictive with respect to specifying Oregon and Burgundy. The Felton Road was a welcome ringer, but I didn't want to diversify too much and end up with a fruit basket instead of just apples and oranges. (Reminds me, I need to give up our notes on David's last bottle, which I would swear was so totally different--this one much more advanced.)

The Girardin Santenay: what you call lime vanilla struck me as lemon curd and almond, but we agree that the wine was very nice. I was amused at myself, because I thought I had grabbed the SLB Les Vermots Dessus and didn't even know I had the Beaurepair. Though the other is also very good, I prefer this and hope I have more of this 'mistake' in the cellar.

2005 Ch. de la Charriere Clos Rousseau Santenay Prem. Cru – modern and polished, faint nose, very pure and tart. Drinks more like a village wine than a premier cru. Oh, and I want to mention the amusing alcohol level reported on the bottle: "12-14%".

2004 Cristom Eileen Pinot Noir (Willamette) – nose of black cherry, plum and violet with just a hint of iodine. Lots of stuffing here and more generous than Cristom's reputation. These wines used to be hard and lean in their youth.

Wasn't the pea risotto with the quail and sweetbread a great course?

1998 Panther Creek Freedom Hill Vd. – As the organizer, I knew what some of the wines were and had chosen the order and pairings. As such, asnd having had an 02 Felton before, I pegged the big raspberry fruit on this wine as the Felton because that's what I remember about the last bottle we had. Loved this, it had great structure to my tastes and was very complete. I actually believe that it has the same kind of future ahead of it that the Drouhin below had.

2002 Felton Road Pinot Noir – funky pinot "stink" nose, cherry and orange rind on the palate. Orangish-red color and clearing rim signal premature aging. Tangy.

1998 Groffier Bonnes Mares Grand Cru – Also my WOTN. Can't improve on your description.

1990 Jacques Prieur Volnay Santenots – Love your description of the nose. Brownish color. Pleasant drinking, but it's owner reported it disappointing compared to another bottle he had not long ago, and said this bottle showed a lot of decline since the cork was pulled a few hours earlier.

1992 Dom. Drouhin Laurene – Apparently I liked this wine more than you did. I thought it showed astonishingly well for it's age, and note that up against an excellent 04 from the same locale, the first question was if it was from this millenium. It wasn't even automatically guessed to be in the 90's, let alone early 90's. Whatever slight imperfection there was in the finish, and I didn't actually find any fault there myself, there was that ethereal foresty mushroom/caramel thing in the nose that is the holy grail of aged pinot us pinot-fanatics live to experience and so rarely get in domestic pinots. For me, very sensual.

2004 Dom. Serene Evenstad Reserve – very minerally with a sweet perfumey nose and excellent balance. I hear you re the medium body part, and I've wondered myself in the past if this wine will have the kind of staying power other vintages of Evanstadt have shown or if it has the kind of quiet elegance that starts low and builds power as the wine ages, like the Oregon Drouhins do. Either way, I am nonetheless a big fan of this wine (I didn't bring this bottle, but I own some.)

1990 Jacques Prieur Volnay Santenots – a real low tide at the beach nose, medium body, mature with more acid than tannin at the end. More pleasant to drink than that description makes it sound!

Bill, I tasted the 1990 Prieur Clos de Vougeot a few months ago and found it even more on the downslide. The tannin was starting to overtake the fading fruit (which started taking a dive pretty quickly after opening.) Prieur seemed to be ahead of the curve at the time by making earlier-drinking reds.