Makes some pretty good blends with chardonnay and meunier…
Red Champagne?
Thought about champagne after I posted. Good catch. Obviously I was (narrowly) thinking about red wine initially.
The one grape (imo) that blends with Pinot in good/interesting ways is Poulsard…there are a few excellent Pinot/Poulsard blends from the Jura. I’d make one if I could find someone to plant/grow the Poulsard (at an interesting location, of course…not that there’s any sensible economics behind doing this).
Passetoutgrains (gamay/pinot) seems more like a way to use grapes that wouldn’t cut it on their own rather than being an interesting concept to pursue…tho I don’t have a huge amount of experience here so could be wrong.
Other than that, I agree that Pinot gets lost when blended with other red grapes, so what’s the point. Not sure the price of Pinot is a factor…cab is pricey and that still gets use to blend with merlot (at all price levels).
Coincidentally, I had a 2009 Domaine Brazilier Coteaux du Vendômois Tradition the other day. Really quite nice - a blend of Cabernet Franc, Pineau d’Aunis and Pinot Noir. Nothing life changing, but rather lush and balanced. An easy drinker, this performs well given the $10 price point.
I’ve had some different vintages of Cakebread’s “Rubaiyat” over the years, which is a syrah-pinot blend, some years including zinfandel, merlot and/or other varieties in the blend, and it’s quite a good and interesting wine.
Domaine Alfred (now Chamisal winery) used to make an inexpensive pinot-syrah blend called the DA Red, that was a solid quaffer for $10-15.
My guesses as to why you don’t see it more often would be (a) the cost, as several people noted above, and (b) that it’s just not traditional to blend pinot noir, other than in sparkling wine. Notice how you rarely see chardonnay blended either, that being the other main grape from Burgundy.
Indeed you don’t see it often.
The craziest blend I’ve seen with Pinot Noir is Rosso Del Camul from Venetia. It’s 50% Cabernet-Sauvignon and 50% Pinot Noir, aged in Slovenian oak. Under $20, pretty awesome QPR but the pinot does get lost in it.
Well there’s blends of the rhone varietals and blends of the cabernet varietals and I don’t know for a fact but I suspect these are genetically closer cousins to one another. You could blend pinot with gamay as they seem to be close cousins too but that just seems like a waste of good pinot. If you look at so called “kitchen sink blends,” you do find pinot in them. Tandem Peloton is one example.
Mas Gassac’s red has a small amount of Pinot Noir.
Aaron
Good point about poulsard. I have to disagree on Passetoutgrains, I think it is a really fun wine that combines the energy of Beaujolais with more Burgundian refinement, and I’d almost always prefer a Passetoutgrains to a generic Bourgogne. Try Chevillon’s or Clavelier’s for some good examples.
I remember trying Casa Lapostolle’s BoRoBo and thinking it was terrible. It is a blend that includes Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Carmenere and Cabernet.
Olson Ogden makes a field blend called Persuasion (for about $19). The 08 composition is:
Grenache
(13%),
Marsanne
(6%),
Pinot
Noir
(12%),
Syrah
(69%)
It’s a very nice wine.
Not to take away from the original post, but with cheap Pinot being blended with Syrah, why don’t they use slightly earlier picked Zin?
Kevin +1
Victor -1 (however, I assume you were joking in which case +1)
On a side note why has rose champagne gotten priced so damn out of whack vs. brut?
While I have no first-hand knowledge of such a practice, I’ve heard mention of rumored CA Syrahs that contain as much as 85-90% Pinot Noir.
I have a friend in the Oltrepo (near Pavia), Olmo Antico, who makes a wonderful wine called “P. Nera” that is a Pinot Noir/Barbera blend. No US importer at the moment but if anyone is interested I can get you information.
This is one of the regions that doesn’t have the ‘purity’ stigma attached to Pinot Noir. There are actually a fair amount of Pinot/Barbera blends that pop out from here, as well as with some other local varieties. Not a household name, but not a rarity either. Seen a few from Langhe as well.
Just saw this on the mailing list today.
Copain 2010 P2
A blend of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Pinot Gris from our estate Hein vineyard. The 2010 exhibits Bright high-toned floral and red fruits with talc like tannins and crisp fresh fruit finish. Like some of the red wines from the Loire Valley and other parts of Europe, enjoy this wine slightly chilled and enjoy it on the patio this summer.
I just remembered a blend from Oregon’s Sokol Blosser. They have a red table wine call Meditrina which the blend probably varies yearly which has Pinot, along with Syrah and Zinfandel, it looks like in the latest version…