TN: Pinot Noirs with Lunch

Notes from the monthly lunch/tasting. The theme of this one was pinot noir and we held it out on the patio in the sun for the first time this year.

2014 Blue Mountain Brut Rosé – this B.C. wine has some maturity now and was a rose gold colour with a nose with decent fruit and a clean if medium length finish. Decent starting point.

2013 Foxtrot Pinot Noir The Waltz – this excellent PN producer is no longer around, but I collected their wines when I could after first tasting them a decade or so ago. Now getting pale in colour with an orange tinge, good varietal character and hints of dark berries and vanilla. Smooth and still good drinking but won’t get any better in bottle.

2015 Montalto Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate – a quite Burgundian nose with dark cherry and lots of red fruit on palate, with a clean lengthy finish. People immediately thought it was a Burgundy.

2009 Comte Armand Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets – instant Burgundy recognition, the wine showing medium colour with orange edges, good fruit and clean acidity. Drink soon.

2015 Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay Vielles Vignes – medium colour, dark cherry nose, hint of raisin in the nose, good length.

2015 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Knox Alexander – heaviest bottle of the day. Pale wine with nice raspberry in the nose, good fruit levels and lengthy sweet finish.

2002 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers – a sweet dark wine that seemed a bit new world at first but resolved as Burgundy with a bit of air. Nice length, and a bit austere rather than lush.

1999 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot – medium colour, good balance, and a piquant, clean acidic finish. Some interesting spice in the nose – perhaps some cardamom?

2011 Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Santa. Rita Hills – a dark wine showing sweet cherry up front, with a sweet finish quite distinct from the preceding wines – light on its feet.

2022 Bodega Chacra Pinot Noir Sin Azufre – fairly dark wine with a very good nose of fresh berries and hints of mint, finishing with good clean acidity.

2012 Sperling Vineyards Riesling Old Vines – a local BC wine with the cheese – mediu colour with only slight hints of sweetness in the nose, good fruit and clean crisp finish. I’d pondered opening a Richter Kabinett but this did just fine in the role of cheese wine.

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting selections. Domaine de la Cote has become more “burgundian” in recent years. 2011 might have been their first vintage. It was at least the first for some of their wines.

2002 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers – a sweet dark wine... a bit austere rather than lush..

Sweet dark and austere, that special Gouges combination.

I used to like the wines, but haven't tasted in a while.

[David M. Bueker]

Gouges, like Faiveley has eased up on the style. Much more approachable these days

[Jenise]

I just wrote a whole answer to your post and it blew up on me just before I could hit SEND. I'll start over later, maybe tomorrow, but in the meantime I want to mention that you forgot Sue's wine, the shocking and delicious 2015 Montalto from Australia's Mornington Peninsula which was perhaps the most Burgundian wine of the day but from Oz of all places! Exceptional, I thought.

[Jenise]

The Blue Mountain rose taught me that though I appreciate aged white bubbles, I will probably always prefer fresh, young pink ones to aged. It was okay, but for me merely "decent", to quote you.

Your Foxtrot was nice enough, but it appeared older than it actually was and, remembering your 2011 from a year ago, not even close to what I know this winery can do. Your '11 wasn't a Waltz, though.

Then came Sue's 2015 Montalto from Australia's Mornington Peninsula, which I loved. As I said in my comment to you, it was perhaps the most Burgundian wine of the day! By comparison, the wine that followed, Alvin's Comte Armand had the spice and friendly nature of a Californian.

2015 Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay Vielles Vignes – This had a stewed nose which I found offputting, and a bitter finish. Better on the palate, but this is not what I want Burgundy to smell like.

2015 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Knox Alexander – Odd that a California pinot in a ripe year can read more like Oregon on the blind, but that was my experience with this wine. Liked it a lot.

2002 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers – My wine. I decanted it immediately on arrival and it never quite shed that austerity but nonetheless, in the glass it improved greatly. With food, one of the best wines of the day.

1999 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot – this had a lot in common with the Gouges above. Excellent.

2011 Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Santa. Rita Hills – Liked this a lot. Great aromatics.

2022 Bodega Chacra Pinot Noir Sin Azufre – My back-up wine, produced because maybe it would be fun to try something from a totally different place and mindset and why take it home. Hoped being so young it would show well as a PnP. But too young, and not as attractive as the bottle I opened six months ago.

2012 Sperling Vineyards Riesling Old Vines – Loved this. And not a winery I've had anything from before.