WTN: Burgundy and New World Pinot

Friends had a informal party, which quickly grew to include many of the neighbors (He has great neighbors!!) Food included shellfish, cheeses (Manchego and Bleu D'Auvergne) and grilled meat. So, several us brought some treasures. I only have partial notes on some of these, so....not sure how helpful they will be. And, maybe my grading was too easy, but I liked all of the wines in different ways and would drink any of them again.

Stanglin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (2004). Tasted after being opened for a day, this had a nice bright nose, bright red cherry fruit and a nice bracing hit of acidity. Solid ***.

Joseph Swan Russian River Valley (2003). Some tasters complained of an "odd" off nose, which wasn't evident to me. It certainly wasn't corked or cooked or bad, because the flavors were rich and bold and black. A delicious wine, but I confess (even though I brought this bottle), that I preferred the more bracing Domaine Arlaud myself. *** 1/2.

Domaine Arlaud Chambolles-Mussigny V. V. 2004. Friend bought this wine after we tried it at Bounty Hunter in Napa for lunch.

Here's the shop's blurb https://bountyhu1.securesites.net/shopp ... ndy%20(Red)&Product_ID=662

WOTN for me. Delicious, nuanced layers of flavor. Black fruit and red fruit. Lovely nose of cherries. A hint of bracing acidity makes it fresh. A fine introduction to me for young Burgundy that is not yet closed down. ****+

Louis Latour Nuits Saint Georges (2003)) About $75. Our old friend, who now grows Pinot Noir in Oregon, brought this from Bounty hunter. Even though this was a hot year, this wine had much more bracing acidity than the Arlaud. Delicious, but not sure I liked the fflavor profile quite as much-especially not at the 50% price difference. ***1/2

Elyse Wild Horse Valley (Mount George Foothills east of the City of Napa) (2004) A first Pinot for this Cab-maker. Quite rich and dark and voluptuous compared to the previous French wines . Nice black fruit and a bit of cola. Not a lot of acidity. Definitely some smokeyness on the finish. Tasted maybe too rich, now that I'm comparing it to the Burgundies. Still, a delicious rich wine perhaps well suited to big red meat. ***

We also opened a 2002 Whitehall Lane Reserve Cab, which inspired my "confession" to liking "both" styles of wine (definitely fruit forward, albeit not sicky caramelly oaky) and a 2001 Napa Wine Company Cab which was definitely big on the vanilla oak but not too bad nonetheless-six years, including the last year in pretty warm, storage have helped it settle down . **** and ** respectively.

I definitely want more of the Arlaud. Probably the Swan, too. Maybe the Elyse-it was drunk pretty young, and it might be interesting to see what happens there.

Thanks for notes. I don't know Arlaud, but sounds like one to look for.

No offense to your friends, but $75 for a Latour village NSG? Call the police, robbery in progress!

I might be misquoting the price as I couldn't find it on the website. But-I am pretty sure this was right.

Bounty Hunter does tend to be quite high in price, but it is such a wonderful place to try wine that I have bought bottles there myself. Actually, the bottle of Mas de Provence I bought there was not that far off the prices I've seen on a quick web search.

I'm a fan of Arlaud wines-- in general preferring the ones from Morey St. Denis over those from Gevrey Chambertin. The Domaine has had some M-S-D "Les Ruchots" that really rocks! and the "Les Millandes" is often very interesting as well. I'm sure I would like the Chambolle-Musigny v.v.

Yep. I will probably buy another bottle or two. And maybe a Swan.
Although....I really like a lot of French wine. I'm trying hard to be loyal to my state, I really am. (I do like California wines, too. )

Brian,

Thanks for your report. It is always interesting to compare Pinots from different regions. As a Pinot grower and maker, I do this all the time. A few thoughts crossed my mind reading your notes.

First, Pinot is a very early-ripening grape. It evolved in the north and its vegetative cycle is in sync with a northern climate. It stands to reason, therefore, that the best and most balanced Pinots have a better chance of coming from climates that suit it. Burgundy is such a place. There, the grapes achieve their flavors slowly while the grapes still have high acidity. They become fully ripe only at the very end of the growing season. That is the reason one gets such wonderful fresh fruit flavors framed in pleasant tartness from Burgundy.

California, on the other hand, is at the same latitude as North Africa. It has shorter daylight hours in the summer than Burgundy gets, but a very long growing season and lots of heat. Under these conditions, Pinot gets overripe rapidly. That is, it loses its acidity and raisins up before the flavors are fully formed. So a grapegrower in CA may need to hang the grapes until they are 25 or 26 brix to achieve full flavors. By that time the skins are raisining, the pH has risen to very unacceptable levels, and the acidity has dropped out to maybe 5 grams per liter. These are the kind of grapes Port is made from! But wait, we have technology now. We are not restricted to what nature naturally gives us. We can add tartaric acid to correct low acidity and high pH, and there are technical means available for removing excess alcohol from the high sugar content of raisined fruit. As you can imagine, the resulting wine bears little resemblance to classic fine Burgundy! While I am not necessarily decrying technology, I am saying that I prefer a natural product to a highly manipulated one. And my experience is that over time and with experience, most other people do as well.

So I think I would suggest that if a winemaker finds that he/she has to manipulate the grapes too much each and every year in the cellar, this is Mother Nature's way of saying, "You have the wrong grape planted in your vineyard".

Jim Lester

elided great explanation of PN ripening

Ah, but Jim, you neglect that you're dealing with the Land of Endless Possibility™. Going back at least as far as de Tocqueville, commentators have noted that Americans have a cultural tendency to believe that the only limitations are those of their own imaginations. So Pinot Noir prefers 1000 less degree-days than it gets in St. Helena? No problem, mate, just apply a bit of RO and spinning cone, a bag or two of tartrate and a designer yeast... et voilá! We'll put it in a two kg bottle with a kewl label and sell it for a three-digit price tag. What's your beef?

Helen Turley

Thanks, James. Don't get me wrong-I do like California Pinots (and the Swan actually showed better at the winery a couple of weeks ago). But, I am just embarking on the exploration of Burgundy-at least Villages level and 1er Cru wines (Grand Cru? Well....is it really 8 times better than the 1er Cru? )

(Grand Cru? Well....is it really 8 times better than the 1er Cru?

Sometimes. But not always. And who can afford it anyway. What I love is finding a village Burgundy that drinks like a Premier Cru (2002 Digioia-Royer Chambolle Musigny) or a Premier Cru that drinks like a Grand Cru (possibly the 1999 Arlaud Morey-St-Denis "Les Ruchots").

Was the Swan from the Lone Redwood vineyard or Cuvee de Trois (a blend of three vineyards)? I'm guessing one or the other, not the Trenton or Saralee's.

If it was the Lone Redwood, I wouldn't be surprised that some people might have noticed a sort of grassy aroma. Even I, with my numb nose, have noticed it a bit. As you say, it doesn't seem to bother how the wine goes down!

Very interesting notes!

I thought it was the Trenton.

Some glowing recs on this wine:

2004 Domaine Arlaud Chambolle-Musigny V.V.
Abundantly floral, with silky tannins and fruit: in short, a perfect Chambolle. In Burgundy, this is cupid’s arrow—you can’t resist its charms. From 40-year-old vines, aged in 25% new wood.

“Subtly complex with high-tone red Pinot fruit aromas tinged with traces of earth and spice leading to understated, detailed and beautifully well-balanced fruit…this is really quite a pretty wine.” — Burghound

Bounty Hunter is ten bucks a bottle too expensive. Green Jug Fine Wines in Woodland Hills, CA has it for $39.99 a bottle. I got a case from them and they told me they still have 11 bottles left for anyone interested. Here is their link:

http://www.greenjug.com/default.asp

Thanks, randy!

I DO NOT want to bad-mouth Louis Latour, but the wine they make tastes like week-old road-kill that was sleeping in a dead hobo's pocket. I'm just sayin' . Of course, dead hobo is still 'terroir'


Prost!
Bill

Well...I liked the crisp, refreshing acidity of the Latour (which was an '03, so go figure), but the overall flavor wasn't as interesting and multilayered as the other Burgundy. Or the Swan, for that matter.