April Wine Focus - Pinot Noir from Anywhere!

[David M. Bueker]

Have at it!

[Robin Garr]

Damn! Is it APRIL? Already? Thanks for posting, David.

Here's a surprisingly interesting Tasmanian Pinot that we opened the other night, a shipment from California Wine Club's International Selections. I like ...

Pirie Tasmania South 2009 "South" Tasmania Pinot Noir ($29)

Dark purple with a clear garnet edge. Good black and red cherry aromas are joined by a hint of blackberries on the palate, very appealing balance of fresh but not overwhelming fruit with crisp and food-friendly acidity framed by soft tannins. Definitely a fruit-focused Pinot, but its cool weather origin keeps it from going down the blockbuster road, and that is a good thing. Stated alcohol content 13.5%. U.S. importer: American Estates Wines Inc., Philadelphia, for California Wine Club's International Selections
http://www.cawineclub.com/Pirie-Tasmani ... D1690.html

Food match: Szechwan shredded beef with carrots and celery.
Recipe: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 1023.phtml
(I made it this time with plant-based Gardein "beefless tips".)

[David M. Bueker]

Tas.jpg

(10.51 KiB) Downloaded 3941 times

[Robin Garr]

http://youtu.be/c54SvkgQ04A

I went to a tasting of New Zealand wines last night and we had two Pinot Noirs among six wines. I bought two bottles of one of them and may post again after opening a bottle but will give brief impressions here.

The Hunky Dory Pinot Noir ($22.99) and 13% abv is from young vines--5 to 10 years old. It was a light garnet color and looked rather pale next to the Huia P.N. I picked up some rose petal on the nose and questioned whether the fruit scent was dark cherries or something else. Delicate in flavor. Some cherry flavor and the presenter also found a faint tobacco taste. I liked it fairly well but was more impressed with its big brother (or sister?)

The Huia Pinot Noir ($29.99) was a more robust ruby color. Vines were planted in 1990. 13.5% abv. It exhibited soft tannins and a bit of earthiness, some would say mushroomy. 15% new French oak barrels (rest neutral oak) for nine months. Blending after maturing in oak. Wine held for a year after bottling before release. We were sampling the current release from the 2010 harvest. This seemed to be a hit with most of the class (about 20 people) but one lady did purchase the Hunky Dory Pinot Noir. I purchased two bottles of this and two of the Huia Sauvignon Blanc. The Huia Vineyards and winery are near Blenheim in the Marlborough region, close to Wairau River. I have had some disappointing experiences with New Zealand Pinot Noir recently but this one did not disappoint and considering the distance it has traveled to North Carolina, is a bargain compared to many CA and OR Pinots.

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting results JC.

Finding good quality new world Pinot Noir in the $30 and under category is often a challenge. It's why most of my Pinot dollars now go to good Bourgogne and some selected S-L-B/P-V wines.

[David M. Bueker]

2005 Chevillon Bourgogne
Well if you think Bourgogne at age 8 is a good idea, think again. That at least goes for this wine, which is still very closed in. Too bad. There is palate weight/density, so look to the future.

I was introduced to Red Pony Ranch Pinot Noir at a tasting in the Total Wine where I work (Red Pony Ranch wines are exclusive to Total Wine). I loved the $12 Central Coast bottling and have bought several. A very bright wine both in the glass and on the palate, bright but ripe, dark red fruit flavor, beautifully balanced and a pleasure to drink.
Liking the Central Coast bottling so much, I thought I'd upgrade to the Santa Barbara bottling at $18 and did so. I opened one on April 1st and immediately noticed an off odor that I do not recall ever smelling before in a wine: I'd call it a cooked, vegetative smell. On the palate it was, no surprise, very disappointing and not enjoyable almost not drinkable. I let it sit a while hoping the mal-odor would blow off but it never improved. A second bottle proved to suffer from the same condition.
So disappointed were we that we did not open any other wine that evening. I took the wine back to the shop and asked two experienced wine drinkers for their opinion and they were in 100% agreement. I got credit and for the returns and bought the remaining inventory of the Central Coast bottling.
I have tried to contact Red Pony Ranch wines with no luck as their e-mail link in their website is incorrect and there's no phone number provided. I ended up 'Liking' their Facebook page and leaving a note there.
Any idea what I was experiencing?

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like the wine was cooked in transit.

I think you're right, David. I wasn't sure since this was my first encounter with this particular aroma.

The first wine I tried from my recent foray in Oregon was the 2011 Evesham Wood Bruno Cuvee pinot noir. This is a wine meant to be drunk young according to Andy at Avalon Wines (whose build a case program gets me to try varied Oregon wines). He was right. This wine was a rather delicious fruit bomb type wine, with intense strawberry/raspberry fruit, a lovely lighter color, great acidity, and surprising food friendliness to stuffed tortellini with a red sauce. Gulpable! At $15, a good buy while giving my more serious Oregon pinots a chance to age. My wife and I both really enjoyed the wine.

[Jenise]

I think you're right, David. I wasn't sure since this was my first encounter with this particular aroma.

Not all cooked wines smell swampy, but boy when you have one there's no doubt. Awful experience, isn't it? Interesting that you can't find them. Wonder if it is, or was, a real brick and mortar winery, or just some juice they bought and bottled under that label.

....just some juice they bought and bottled under that label.

I'm pretty sure you're spot on, Jenise. Not an unusual way to sell wine of course but I'd love to get in touch with them.

[Jenise]

Jon, I'm curious about what your store did with the wine? Heat damage isn't a bottle by bottle thing like TCA; everything they have will be equally tainted. Did they remove it from inventory?

OK, I challenge each and all of you to find a better Pinot for $14.99 than Fox Run finger Lakes Pinot Noir! It was wonderful. It was colored like Pinot should be, unlike the Syrah like Pinots coming from other parts these days. It gave cherries and raspberries on the nose and upfront. There was a hint of spice in the smooth middle, and it finished splendidly.

We matched it with ham, winter squash, potato salad, and cranberry cornbread. Three of us killed two bottles of it. A great Easter feast.

Jon, I'm curious about what your store did with the wine? Heat damage isn't a bottle by bottle thing like TCA; everything they have will be equally tainted. Did they remove it from inventory?

No, Jenise - As far as I know, the bottles are still in the bin and offered for sale. I have not been back to the shop since David's post yesterday, however. When I go in on Saturday, I will talk to the store manager (who knows about my return) about this and expect that we'll open a bottle and if unsound, we'll remove it all. This does not happen often but within the past month or so, an entire pallet of Pinot Grigio was removed from the sales floor within hours or receipt because it was unsound. As a matter of store policy, any bottles out there may be returned for almost any reason by the consumer and a refund immediately applied.

We had a very good Brewer-Clifton Ashley's Vineyard Pinot with an amazing meal at Animal in LA (cow's head, veal brains, veal tongue, bone marrow with chimichurri, charred octopus, yellowfin ceviche tostada, pig belly sliders, etc.). The B-C's can be off-putting young b/c of stem inclusion. This was in a perfect drinking spot, with the hint of stems adding to the complexity of restrained red fruit. Delicious.

A 2007 Marcassin Marcassin was a step up from a bottle I opened a few months back. This is the current release, and it may have just needed more time, b/c this bottle was perfect, with the red fruit in balance with the tannins and acidity. This is an expensive wine, but I think it is wonderful. We had it at Slater's 50/50 Burgers, which is a burger that half beef and half bacon.

I opened this Zotovich 2009 Estate Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills AVA with pork chop and coreander marinade with the full knowledge that the "Santa" was in violation of a previous "Santa Rita Hills" I think in Chile. Jeez, I hope they don't catch me! In any event this wine was again another slight disappointment in that, after being opened 6 hrs. prior to dinner, it still was all about sour cherry fruit with NO other complexity like the earthy/forest floor that the 2009 Failla Hirsch had. Since I once again have 11 more bottles of this wine, I will put most of them away for a goodly time to see if they develope any non-fruity complexity. Maybe I need to stick to the Sonoma Coast AVA. Can anyone out there recommend a P.N. from anywhere with deep earthy and red fruit flavors that is less than $50.00.

Bourgogne Côtes d'Auxerre Corps de Garde Pinot Noir 2009 - Guilhem & Jean-Hugues Goisot - Alc.13%, made from 30+ year old vines cultivated bio-dynamically.
I found this a tad disappointing coming from a highly regarded north Burgundian estate, particularly after the brilliant showing of the corresponding white from 2010 and my memories of this red and the 2010 at a recent tasting in the presence of the Goisots.
The nose was subdued with sour cherry and mineral touches. The palate was linear and medium bodied with a marked minerality, good acidity and some "gras" but only subdued fruit and aromas which let through dry caramel traces probably coming from undigested wood on the firm finish. I guess that it is in a closed phase and will blossom in a year or so. Meanwhile, barely good 15/20.

2002 Chandon de Briailles PV Ile des Vergelesses
Just like my other bottle from almost 3 years ago, this is a lovely round elegant succulent wine. More approachable than many other vintages of CdB IdV that I've had at this age. But of course there is still plenty of crisp acid and firm tannin, so it still qualifies as serious and will probably age for some time. But it was very delicious last night and went wonderfully with a spinach and mushroom risotto.

Other than that, my most recent pinot noir was a few bottles of 2010 Bergdolt St. Lamprecht Duttweiler Kalkberg Spatburgunder Trocken GG from last month. It's a beautiful wine with all the aspects of pinot noir that you could want. Deeply-fruited fruit with plenty to taste but so well-framed with a firm structure and tingling minerals. My only 'complaint' is that the flavors and aromatics don't send me into the same Burgundy rapture, they're a bit 'grey' and 'murky' at the moment. That may be the terroir or it may be a phase, and given the composition of fruit and structure plus what I hear from others, I'm sure this will evolve in interesting ways. But I only had two bottles so I drank them now.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks Rahsaan. I may have to make spinach and mushroom risotto!

[David M. Bueker]

2006 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (4/6/2013)
It's been nearly two years since I last had this wine, and time has been kind to it. The fruit has developed a smoky, earthy edge, and the overall palate impression has mellowed and become very rounded, with only a little kick of acidity on the finish. There's still quite a lot of fruit through to the finish. No danger of imminent collapse here, but I certainly see no reason to hold longer. It is drinking very, very well.

David, I was wondering when we were going to see a Rhys note. This winery gets a load of praise on WB! Are you or Salil CEO of the I Luv you group?

[David M. Bueker]

Bob,

Salil is not really a Rhys fan, and frankly I really do not understand your point.