The objective of this tasting was not to choose the winner, but learn the difference between the various expressions of Pinot Noir coming from different wine-producing regions.
We started with Burgundy to set the baseline. Generic Bourgogne from Maison Leroy 2015 is a textbook example. Intense aromatics with more black than red berries. It does not have the concentration of the fruit, but has intensity. Bit of spice. Fruit beautifully integrates with silky tannins. Perfect balance, medium body.
2009 Salwey Oberrotweiler Kirchberg Spätburgunder GG served from Magnum showed some age with tawny rim. Wine comes from the noble sunny vineyard in Baden, its fruit is ripe and sweet and already developed tertiary vegetal character. It is a signature high acidity that distinguishes German Spät from others.
We moved further north to Trépail in Montagne de Reims with 2007 David Leclapart Coteaux Champenois. Produced in tiny quantities, this biodynamic wine was full of wild energy and natural character. Full of red berries, sour plum, herbs and pickles with elevated chalky acidity and feather light body. Unusual wine to shake up one’s beliefs of Pinot Noir.
2016 Kistler Sonoma Coast was a classy New World Pinot with warm climate ripe fruit, moderately accentuated oak with baking spices. Pleasantly textural with moderate acidity. Open, friendly wine.
2015 August Kesseler Assmannshäuser Höllenberg Spätburgunder GG. World famous vineyard on a very steep slope above the Rhein with heat-storing and sparse slate soils produce complete wines that can compete with fine 1er Crus in Burgundy. Unlike previous Spät it develops slowly as serious wines should. Graceful wine with complex fruit character, powder texture of tannins and underlying lively acidity. One of the best German Pinots I know.
This comparison suggests that the voice of climate speaks the loudest. Northern regions have dryer finish, distinctive fruit, leaner body. New World Pinot is warmer and more textural. Burgundy remains the benchmark with all the elements in perfect harmony and balance of fruit and savoury notes, moderate acidity and silky tannins.
It is a fascinating exercise to see the different expressions of the same grape across different terroir/regions, especially Pinot Noir. I got my start on Sonoma Pinot probably 10 years ago; it was a bit ripe/rich for me and so after a few years I looked elsewhere in Cali (in particularly the Santa Cruz Mountains, which I still enjoy). Then up to the Willamette in Oregon. Now that I’m in the UK I’ve focused much more heavily on understanding Burgundy.
What I’ve found fascinating so far is that while Burgundy is Burgundy, I’ll sometimes come across a wine that reminds me of Oregon or California (moreso Oregon unless it’s a really ripe Burgundy). The lines can be a bit blurred.
And then when I was back in the US over the holidays, my in-laws poured me a couple SVD Williams Selyems that had 3-4 years age on them. My mind was blown how different these were than even a lot of what else I’d had in California, certainly different than Burgundy and Oregon. Power, precision and polish, but not over the top at all. So much depth. My gosh did I find I really enjoy them (to which I’m sure the many of you who already enjoy them are not surprised…).
I think in that regard it’s hard to get a read on an entire region from a single producer, as there’s just so much variation even within a region due to terroir and producer signature. But, still fun to see.
I think certain varietal characteristics remain traceable, such as the climate influence. All selected wines are from solid producers. Age and winemaking didn’t mask the climate, which is the distinguishing factor in this case.
I too got hooked initially on WS pinots in the old days (Burt and Ed and the batcave) but I never quite found another Sonoma Pinot that quite captured their magic. Rochioli is close, but just a touch too ripe and “clean” for me to really say, eureka! Rhys has come close to that elusive magic of Burgundy, yet still different. After all they grow their grapes in a really more maritime climate than the Cote D’Or.
I fear that with the changing growing season in Burgundy some of the magic will be lost, much like it seems to have drifted away in the Russian River Valley. When pinots clock in routinely at 14.5 ABV I don’t care how “balanced” they are purported to be, they just start to edge too close to syrah flavors. Nothing wrong with syrah when well done, but it just does not have that “pinotness”. Seems to me that great pinot always is teetering on that edge of acidity/ripeness/earthiness that is hard to produce consistently. I have continued to have an open mind about this, but I will be buying very selectively in 2018 Burgs, as I am afraid we may be passing a point of no return. 2019 is already getting the hype machine overheated, but out of barrel the critics downplayed the '14 reds and so far they seem to be wonderful for the sample I have touched.
I know others may not feel the same way, but sometimes progress in ripeness is too much of a good thing… unless you are drinking the village stuff.
At the risk of hijacking the original OP I couldn’t agree more. I’m relatively new to Burgundy and I was pretty picky about what I grabbed for 2018. So far I haven’t had anything that’s overblown, but man some of it is quite ripe, just on the edge (for me). I’m hopeful that producers are able to adapt, whether in the vineyard or in the cellar, to keep that ripeness from escalating (though, I understand that there were some sites that previously could never ripen that are really benefitting from the changing climate).
But New World isn’t the term I would use for Kistler. Any more than the European Pinot Noirs could be termed Old World, and not given a more specific appellation.
In the Willamette Valley vintage variation can be enormous. While 2014, 2015, or 2016 Willamette Valley wines would he warm. 2011 would not. For many years standard thinking for Oregon was ultra low yields and as much hang time as the fruit could get. That isn’t my thought process a all.
Irrigated or cultivated rows would be riper, and no-till and dry farmed can be leaner and more structured without being less intense. To a degree that would make it challenging for those no-till, dry farmed, Willamette Valley wines to be even remotely lumped in with a solid producer like Kistler.
Last, Rick Allen who brews excellent beer here in McMinnville, Oregon commented that he thinks the very soft water we have in the Willamette Valley is a defining aspect of the wines grown here, and I think there is some truth to that too.
Along with the definite differences between volcanic and sedimentary soils.
Grand generalizations usually have some underpinning of truth but also usually have so many exceptions to the rule that I would never really consider them accurate to a degree that satisfies my need for understanding Pinot Noir.
