1963 Wente Bros Pinot Noir....

WINE TALK
1

Just picked up a bottle of this…anyone have info on it? Thanks!

2

Holy $hit, Buzz. Where the heck did you dredge that thing up???
I would guess that it’d be from Livermore grapes…Wente hadn’t started to wander much out of Livermore by then yet.
Not a prime Pinot area, obviously.
Given that their winemaking back then was probably a lot like LouisMartini’s, I’d guess it won’t be totally dead&gone.
I’ll try to look in some of my Calif wine books when I go home and see if I can find additional info.
Supposedly…it was a Parker 93.
Tom (makin’ $hit up again!!)

3

I was wondering the same. I know of only 1 Pinot vineyard currently producing in Livermore and it’s young vine. Was labeling such in 1963 that it even says from where the fruit came?

Interesting bottle. Can’t wait to hear more.

4

Larry,
Back in the old days (by cackey), it was pretty common to label wines with just a Calif origin. Specific origins of grapes
didn’t carry much cachet, so I’d guess all of the Wente wines said “Calif” on the label.
And…just for the record…let it be known that I did not post a (short/boring) TN on this wine to the InterNet!!! [snort.gif]
Tom

5

Fill looks good Buzz!

6

I polished off a bottle exactly like this last May (except that the “Special Selection” sticker was across the bottom of the label) – birthday wine for me. My bottle was pretty nearly dead, even trying the Audouze method. There was no fruit to it at all, obviously, but it hadn’t turned to vinegar either. I would categorize it as “interesting”, and my guests and I did end up finishing the bottle, so I suppose that’s something. I can’t find my tasting notes on it right now, but I remember that you shouldn’t expect much.

I picked mine up at Blicker Pierce, but I don’t remember the price except that it was understandably cheap; never having had a wine (other than port) from my birth year I bought it for curiosity’s sake ('63 was terrible for everything except port). The label says “Made and bottled at the winery, alcohol 12% by volume, Livermore, California, USA.”

7

Is the 1963 the bottle date or the vintage? Either way, good luck

8

I don’t have the bottle yet…but am wondering since I don’t see a date except for the “Special Selection bottled 4-23-63”…that it can’t be 1963 fruit? Has to be a few years younger huh?

9

12% Pinot from Livermore? They might have picked it in march [wow.gif] Seriously though, yes it must be an earlier vintage.

10

In those days, everything said 12 or 12.5.

11

Of course they were 12 to 12.5%

Concord and Zinfandel grapes and blended by specific percentages plus a percentage of water to attain the approximate flavor characteristics of the specified varietal. I think that back in 61 to 65 they hadn’t caught on to actual grape content even, allowing for some chemical wines with no actual grape juice.

12

Good point Bob.

13

Well, Buzz…not exactly the highest-level research I’ve ever done…but good enough for wine geeks. To wit:
Thompson & Johnson: Wente’s first vintage of Pinot was '63. If this was bttld in April/'63…it could have been a trial attempt at Pinot.
Bensen: Wente did there first Monterey/ArroyoSecco plantings in 1962, which included some Pinot. So this is clearly not fruit
from their Monterey plantings.
Blumberg&Hannum: “It is simply a light/tart red w/ no distinguishing characteristics”. No reference to what vintages, but probably from
vintages in the late '60’s.

In the mid-'60’s, Wente bought the LouisMel ElMocho wnry & vnyds. Also the RubyHill wnry. Those vnyds could very well have
had Livermore Pinot in them.
In the post-Prohibition era, Wente was doing a lot of bulk wine stuff under a different label. So they were probably buying bulk wine
from around Calif. The “Special Selection” could be a lot of Pinot they particularly liked & bttld under their own label.

My guess is that it was partly/mostly LivermoreVlly Pinot grapes. But just a WAG (scientific term: Wild-Ass Guess).

Why don’t you e-mail the wnry, Buzz, and ask them if they have any records on this wine; rather than go on some WAG by some LosAlamos doofuus.

Tom

14

“Doofus” has only one “u”, Tom. neener

Terrific information

15

Got the bottle…on the back it says “…Years of aging produced this satisfying, robust red wine. First, quiet mellowing in small oak casks; then, the final maturing in this bottle…”

So, “years of aging”…if this was bottled in 1963, then wouldn’t you say the grapes were from the 50’s? On these older wines, I like to see when the bottle glass was made…which you can usually tell by a stamped date on the bottom…this bottle throws me though, because it has 1923:W on it??? Any bottle experts on this?

I entered it in CT as NV.

Btw, I emailed Wente when I originally put this thread up…never got a response.