Less expensive Pinot Noirs from many producers are often lighter and better than the more expensive bottlings

Less expensive Pinot Noirs are often lighter and better than the more expensive bottlings

Self-explanatory, although including ‘from too many producers’ made the poll question too long.

Please feel free to add comments, caveats, nuances, specifics, details, discussions, arguments.

Dan Kravitz

It would be easier to answer if it were phrased “sometimes lighter and occasionally better”. Even for those who prefer more delicate and nuanced wines the statement you give is not true the majority of the time.
Entry level PNs from better producers are usually, but not always, made intentionally lighter for early drinking. From the '90s to about ten years ago the trend was to make the single vineyard selections more extracted and with more new oak. Your premise would have been true in that period. Most of the better producers have reeled in the alcohol and the oak on the top end wines, while the more mass market oriented have souped up the $15-25 wines.

I should add that the vintage makes a huge difference. In challenging years the vast majority of less expensive wine suffers badly, but many of the top tier wines really shine. Vintages in which the grapes were over-abundant are the ones to select the less expensive wines.

Well, I think there is a lot of truth to this. It does not hold true with Au Bon Climat; the less expensive bottlings are not as elegant as the top. But it holds true more often than not, even in Oregon. I mostly ignore Calif pinot. Cameron and Belle Pente get more elegant as you go up the hierarchies. Thomas is an exception too (that is meant as a joke though every once in a while there is second lower bottling, ACME).

Ignoring California Pinot is (IMHO) not a good idea.

Colin

I would say lighter almost always, but better? I don’t notice that, just different. More expensive cuvees are more often made to be aged and so have greater structure, or just done in a more ‘masculine’ style because consumers associate that with ‘premium’ wine. As a result the less expensive PN might just seem better on release. You see the same pattern with Brunello and Brunello Riserva, and others.

It’s funny you should say that. ABC is exactly the winery I was thinking of where I agree with the premise. La Bauge is my favorite. The higher end Pinots taste too ripe and flashy for me.

I would hope this is false for the majority of wineries in the world. “Lighter,” maybe in terms of acid and tannin structure but “better”? Someone is doing a poor job if that’s the case. I sure hope my winery is not falling into that category as that would make me question my palate in an enormous way.

It depends what you mean with “better”?
Lighter - YES … better - not necessarily, and in most cases NO.

I’ve enjoyed quite a few ‘basic’ spatburgundet over the fancier (pricier) more extracted, heavily Oaked versions.

Pinot Noir is complicated and resistant to easy definition and/or categorization. I’ve definitely had less expensive lighter style bottlings that I’ve preferred to bigger more concentrated home run efforts. I believe that it’s harder to hide flaws in “lighter” Pinot Noir.

Sometimes the increased density pays off…kind of like contrasting Corton with Savigny-Les-Beaune. One is not necessarily (despite vineyard classifications) better than the other. YMMV.

RT

The basic Santa Barbara is fleshy and full, the Knox Alexander and Isabelle are not as fleshy/fat/amped up in my experience.

Drink enough California pinot over twenty years or so and there is a 54.27% chance that you will see things my way.
There are some others I enjoy but not many. Littorai comes to mind. There are maybe ten more that I can stomach. The rest make me want to gag.

In my experience, this statement applies to new wineries (with inexperienced winemaking staff) where money is no object. They tend to get it mostly right in the vineyard, producing great fruit, then think that the better cuvees need to be slathered in the most expensive winemaking techniques (lots and lots of the best new oak). As a result, the lesser wine ends up being a better-balanced product. As a specific example, Archery Summit started out with loads of cash infused from Gary Andrus and an ethos informed by the production of California Cabernet at Pine Ridge (inexperienced with Pinot Noir). This led the top wines to be way over-oaked in the early years. I found the Premier Cuvee to consistently be the best wine in the lineup. It was a head-scratching experience. In situations where the winery has generations of experience, an established reputation, and judicious winemaking practices, I would say this is exceptional.

Cheers,
fred

Jim; you have a lot of bottlings. I suspect you are confident in your palate too btw. You tell me, but some of your premier product like Mysterious, Notorious, Olenik Anklebreaker and Balcombe 1B are big (I am not saying too big-I buy 1B and Anklebreaker) and then there is my personal favorite of all of your stable-Etzel Block which hits my sweet spot of grace with sneak-up-on-you power.

Less expensive wines may show better on release, higher end bottlings are often intended for longer aging.

-Al

Fred, IIRC, the term I’ve heard is: “slutting it up”. We’re in agreement, although some of the older Arcus came around after a while…sort of. Many definitely not.

RT

Lighter? Yes, a reasonable amount of time. Maybe less oak, grapes from less ripe/concentrated parts of the vineyard, etc.

Better? Occasionally, but rarely. I like KB appellation wines better than the SVDs the majority of the time – the SVDs have a little “more of everything” in a way that I don’t like quite as much. Sea Smoke Southing and Botella are better than Ten, which is overoaked and requires pretty long age to get to a more balanced place.

This hits the nail on the head for me. I suspect too often we drink higher-end cuvees before they’re ready

many times they’re declassified blends from single vineyards and yield a more complex or complete wine than their single vineyard component.

If that is the case, Brig, then the blend is not necessarily lighter. Take for example the Shea Estate compared to the specific vineyard plot designations.