After giving up wine for five years (due to allergy problems which mysteriously disappeared) I got back into wine in 2002. Previously, I was a Burg-o-phile for 20+ yrs.
I had heard that CA Pinots had really improved over the 1996-2002 time period. So I decided to give them a shot. That “shot” lasted up to this point.
Indeed, I found the average quality of PN had improved by a pretty impressive amount over what I had tasted in the 1975-1987 timeframe.
Over the last eight years I’ve tasted a good bit of CA PN and visited a fair amount of producers. They are some of the greatest people on this planet.
In this age of instant gratification, ready to drink, fruity luscious PN is the order of the day. And there is much to say for this. Not everybody wants to wait 10 yrs of aging in order to fully enjoy a wine.
But for me, who was weaned on Red Burgundy, I enjoy the complex aromas and flavors that can develop over a decade or more of aging.
After seriously thinking about the last 8 years of pounding Pinot at all stages of their development, I’ve come to the following conclusions. Remember, these are only my opinions. Your results may differ. I am speaking about CA Pinots that cost more than $30.00
Around 90+% of CA Pinots should be drunk 1-3 years after the vintage.
The vast majority of CA PN change over time, but they don’t really evolve into something special. Given 5-15 years of age, secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors are present but not necessarily desirable.
IMO, this is due to picking too ripe and/or using grapes from vineyards that are in the wrong location. IMO, a lack of tannin, high PH necessitating acid additions and high Brix grapes causing water additions are also factors that limit development in most CA PN.
Very few CA Pinots can take 10 yrs of aging and not be dead, alcoholic or pruney.
FTR, I enjoy a lot of these CA Pinots when consumed young. But lush, primary, upfront fruit is not my ultimate hope for any given wine. I find it amazing how wine can evolve and significantly improve given 10+ years.
I’ve aged all my CA Pinot for longer time periods than most to determine how they develop. So I speak from experience.
Once again, there’s nothing wrong with liking these early agers and can fully understand why people love them. I’ve come to the conclusion that they are just not my cup of tea.
There are definitely CA Pinots that have shown they can age 10+ yrs and improve big time. Older Chalone/Williams Selyem, Mount Eden, Swan and Arcadian for instance. And believe it or not, Testarossa from the Ed Kurtzman era.
Although largely unproven, Rhys, Copain, Ceritas, the latest Kutch and certain Marin/SCM PNs seem to have the structure to be successful over the long term. This remains to be seen. These and a few others will be the only CA PN I’ll be putting my bucks into. Otherwise, Red Burg is my pinot of choice.
So this is where I see CA Pinot being at this point.
I do sense more and more CA producers toning down and IMO, this is a good thing.
One more time.
Ca pinot is often a luscious, hedonistic wine and I don’t have anything bad to say about it other than, for the most part, it is no longer my taste.
Paul,
Interesting insights. Thanks.
I, too, have been revisiting my Cal affiliation. I had little experience with older pinots from Cal (my exposure began in about 95) but, I have had a number of the new producers and I have determined that it just isn’t my cup of tea. I find them – barring a very few exceptions – just too sweet on the palate for my liking (I keep hearing the Kinks lyric, “Tastes just like cherry cola, C-O-L-A, cola.” One thing I find here in Ontario where the LCBO checks virtually every product for free sulphur and ABV levels (gotta’ get something for the ungodly premium we pay) is that a lot – and I mean, a lot – of Cali wines, pinots included, end up with little stickers over their label ABV statement … yet to find one where the update was lower than originally stated. That trend makes me wonder …
I just don’t find these wines pair well with any food and that is crucial for me. Now all that said, if you tend to this expression, the quality of wine making, as you stated, is fantastic.
On a brighter note, we are getting some Siduri through the monopoly and I am looking forward to trying as I have only ever had one from this producer.
Thank you for posting the producers of which you think make a Pinot that can age well. If you didn’t, I would have asked!
I have one question… is there a specific area, type of soil, or climate that you think is more capable of producing an ageworthy Pinot? Or do you think it is more an influence of harvest time, barrel selection, and winemaking?
I am interested in what experience leads you to this conclusion? Perhaps I am wrong, but from our conversations I don’t believe you’ve spent a lot of time in the vineyards. – Why wouldn’t you point to vine age instead?
Interesting and thoughtful post, Paul. For me, I’ve just been circling the wagons wondering if it is worth giving, as a blanket rule, all CA Pinots until age 5 or so before I drink them. Sampling through the 2006s, I’m thinking that perhaps I need to recalibrate somewhat. For the most part, I agree with your assessment. The wines won’t necessarily make it that long, but, more importantly, they don’t need to or may not be the better for it if they do.
But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Many of these wines – putting aside vine age, viticulture and winemaking practices, etc. – are made in a style that should be enjoyable at a younger age. I’m trending toward an attitude where the wines I know age well, I’ll age. Then I’ll consume in the shorter term windows wines that show well but haven’t shown they gain with age. That way the agers can age, and I’ve got the best of both worlds. In certain part, I think a winemaker’s insights on when he thinks his wines should be drunk are instructive – that gives a glimpse into when it might be best drunk, although you always have to calibrate to personal taste.
It’s actually a great state of affairs. It’s more from a consumer point of view that I have to change my habits and thinking. This is all a product of lots of drinking and dedicated, substantial evolution of CA Pinot in the past seven or eight years, the short window of my experience.
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