WTN: Cono Sur Pinot Noir Reserva and Organic

I became interested in Cono Sur after tasting their sauvignon blanc, my favorite Chilean sauvignon so far. In the Casablanca Valley, Cono Sur seems to have developed a specialty sideline in pinot (see Pinot Noir Project in the site http://www.conosur.com) and claim that their flagship, Ocio, is the top South American example (it is certainly the most expensive). Two weeks ago I posted a WTN on the Cono Sur 20 Barrels Pinot, their second cuvee. Last night, Marcia and I tried the Reserva and the Organic, their fourth and fifth cuvees (third is the Visión).

2007 Cono Sur Pinot Noir Organic Central Valley 14% (US price $7/Brazil price $17)
Cork closure. Dark cherry color. Subdued dark berry aroma. Good acidity, slightly dilute mid-palate. With food, the acidity recedes and the berry flavors become brighter. Some pinosity begins to emerge, at first a little overwhelmed by the 14% heat. With aeration and food, this settles into a simple but satisfying pinosity groove that overcomes my initial doubts and becomes acceptable, especially at the price.

2007 Cono Sur Reserva Pinot Noir Casablanca Valley 14% (US price $13/Brazil price $22)
Screwcap (hooray!). Dark cherry color. Heady aroma of cranberry and pinot stemminess. Good acidity and satisfying mid-palate. Despite same alcohol level as the preceding, does not taste hot because of the stronger fruit. Marcia detects a “women’s’ hairdresser” aroma, later reclassified as sulphur. The vegetable stemminess is pleasurable, tasting like an integral part of pinosity, especially when mixed with some saline or savory notes. With aeration, a toffee/burnt sugar/caramel note emerges. I like this, and think it delivers the best QPR among the three Cono Sur pinots we’ve tasted so far. Up next, the Ocio, sometime later this week or next week.

Regarding pinosity: it’s interesting how we speak of pinosity when I don’t see talk of merlosity or rieslingosity or cabernosity… While this may owe something to the cult status of pinot, it may also have something to do with its elusiveness. Having tasted several South American pinots in the last few weeks, and wondered about what their taste says about their underlying terroirs, I’ve been mulling over the following contradiction: one could say that pinot is the ideal vehicle for terroir because it doesn’t get in the way by imposing strong intrinsic characteristics as much as other important varietals. So, the search for pinosity is almost a contradiction in terms, a search for something common to all pinots, independent of terroir, when their entire raison d’être is to express terroir. Nothing wrong with contradiction, of course. If contradiction is part of what makes us human, perhaps our unique fascination with pinot comes from it being the most human grape of all.

Regarding pinosity: it’s interesting how we speak of pinosity when I don’t see talk of merlosity or rieslingosity or cabernosity…

There might also be a language issue there because the last three words are kind of awkward I think people do refer to riesling-ness however..

As far as merlot or cabernet, that might require two words (i.e. typical merlot).

pinot is the ideal vehicle for terroir because it doesn’t get in the way by imposing strong intrinsic characteristics as much as other important varietals

I don't know, the (relatively) high acids, the (relatively) low tannin, the floral fragrance all seems to distinguish pinot noir from cabernet sauvignon regardless of region. I think pinot blanc might be a better example of a neutral grape with no strong intrinsic characteristics.

Just guessing here, but one reason why pinot noir might be so great for expressing terroir is that it can handle being a mono-cepage wine. Now, why pinot noir is better at mono-cepage than cabernet or other grapes, I'm not quite sure. Something to do with the relatively low tannin? (Of course nebbiolo is the rebuttal to that claim).

Regarding pinosity: it’s interesting how we speak of pinosity when I don’t see talk of merlosity or rieslingosity or cabernosity…

Well, Oswaldo, in fact I coined the term "Syrahsity" in my notes of Craggy Range Le Sol. You can read it towards the end here.

Nice to read your notes about the bicycle wine (the Riserva). I might comment more later but lack time now.
Cheers, Anders

Well, Oswaldo, in fact I coined the term "Syrahsity" in my notes of Craggy Range Le Sol.

You troublemaker! In any case, it's not enough to coin a term, it needs to catch: in the WLDG search engine, pinosity shows 92 hits and is non-pareil...

There might also be a language issue there because the last three words are kind of awkward

And since when has awkwardness stood in the way of people massacring the english language?

Yes, we speak of "typical this" and "typical that" but, for some reason, there's something about the concept of pinosity that seems to me to go beyond "typical pinot." Maybe I am just having a semantic hallucination... Anders, do you think pinosity and typical pinot mean exactly the same thing, or is there something extra, ineffable and elusive, to the concept of pinosity?

After 48 hours in the fridge, last night we retasted the two wines (clarification: the wines were in the fridge, not us). The Reserva was still going strong and confirmed my sense that it's a good, solid pinot at a very reasonable price. The Organic was a mess of acid and goes straight into the cooking ingredients bin.

Well, Oswaldo, in fact I coined the term "Syrahsity" in my notes of Craggy Range Le Sol.

You troublemaker! In any case, it's not enough to coin a term, it needs to catch: in the WLDG search engine, pinosity shows 92 hits and is non-pareil...

Just give it some time, Oswaldo, just give it some time...
BTW, 92 hits is rather impressive and more than I would have guessed. The term really is catching rather well. I wonder who introduced the term on WLDG. David Lole has the oldest post among those 92 and he and I were the only ones to use it for some time. I might in fact have introduced the word to him in a chat session before his first note, but that would be hard to check now.

Yes, we speak of "typical this" and "typical that" but, for some reason, there's something about the concept of pinosity that seems to me to go beyond "typical pinot." Maybe I am just having a semantic hallucination... Anders, do you think pinosity and typical pinot mean exactly the same thing, or is there something extra, ineffable and elusive, to the concept of pinosity?

There is absolutely more, Oswaldo. At least what makes me use the word pinosity (and syrahsity too, BTW) is when a wine seems to contain the essence of Pinot, its very soul in a, indeed, quite ineffable and elusive way. It is definitely more than just typicality. I cant think of any other grapes than these two that I might use this kind of expression for. But then I do find their flavour profiles to be rather similar, and they are in fact closely related, just two steps away from each other, according to DNA analysis.
Then again, this is the way I use it. When I read Otto's WTN: Pinosity, it seems to me that he uses the term more in the sense "typical Pinot", I feel, however, that I'd like to reserve the term for that little extra I have tried to describe above. I think the term originally was coined by New Zealand wine makers, such as Blair Walter of Felton Road, and then as "maximum pinosity" to describe the particularly intense pinot character that can be obtained in Central Otago.
Cheers,
Anders

I cant think of any other grapes than these two that I might use this kind of expression for. But then I do find their flavour profiles to be rather similar, and they are in fact closely related, just two steps away from each other, according to DNA analysis.

I was very surprised by this! To me they have always seemd very different, pinot very light skinned, light colored, with less pips and tannin, floral and sweet, with green stems, while syrah is dark, almost black, extremely dry and tannic, with pepper and rubber. In the WLDG winegrape glossary (http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineguest/wgg.html) there is no mention of this genetic similarity, so I'll have to consult some books.

When I mentioned to Marcia that you had said that these two grapes, that I had always considered so different, were only two steps away from each other, she said "well, our DNA and a chimp's are 99% the same..." (she's a doctor). Not comparable, I know, but still funny.