I just grabbed a couple of August Briggs Pinot Meunier, I have never had the varietal on its on before and don’t really have much experience with it blended…any got an idea of what to expect? Does anyone else make on of these? Thanks in advance.
Alston,
Pinot Meunier is a primary blending variety for Champagne. There are also some 100% Meunier Champagnes. The juice tends to be white/golden in color. Several producers make still red wines out of it, most of what I’ve seen is from OR. My experience with the red wines is that they tend to have more acid, tannin, and stem flavors and are lighter on fruit than Pinot Noir, but styles can vary a bit based on the winery. It’s certainly a wine you want to try from a couple of different producers for the sake of experimentation, but I don’t think there are too many people stocking their cellars with Pinot Meunier.
My experience with the red wines is that they tend to have more acid, tannin, and stem flavors and are lighter on fruit than Pinot Noir
I tried a 100% Pinot Meunier from Oregon last year for curiosity’s sake, and would agree with this. I could definitely see the resemblance to PN, but it seemed to have sharper acidity, burlier tannins, and more stemmy/earthy flavors. More rustic and much less refined, as if it were a PN that had been abandoned in the woods and had gone a bit feral.
This is how I would describe the single French example I’ve had.
Never knew anyone made a still wine out of Pinot Meunier? Had several wonderful 100% PM Champagnes, the grape is a bit “funky” in a good way.
I know it’s verboten to blend wines with pinot noir (other than in sparkling wine), but just on paper, a pinot noir / pinot meunier blend sounds like it would be pretty good.
Doug, bravo for a superb bit of descriptive writing there. Please post more often.
I know flowers bottled one for a few years. It was in a mixed varietal blind tasting I attended and I did like it. It was bigger than Pinot in tannin and color and sort of remedied me of Pinotage. I think they stopped making it and now the fruit goes in to a blend they do with.
When in champagne most seemed to talk about as the least desirable of the 3 varieties grown there but we did have some good wines with descent percentages of it as part of the blend.
Jose Michel makes some 100% Pinot Meunier champagnes.
They have a reputation for aging forever, but I’ve only tasted them young, when they are filled with a strong pine resin note, reminiscent of whole cluster Pinot Noir fermentation.
Apparently very old Jose Michel is what the insiders in Champagne drink when they’re thirsty.
I have had several of the previously mentioned Champagnes…I guess I should have been more specific in describing the red still wine…I like the sound of Doug’s description as it seems like that and my palate would get along famously.
Flowers posted a FB pic in March of a bottle of 2011 Sea View Ridge Block 19 Pinot Meunier, so I assume that’ll be included with their Fall SVD/Block releases? And Siduri/Novy released a 2011 PM from Van der Kamp vineyard that is quite tasty, similar to a PN but a bit funkier as has already been mentioned.
I had a decent, if unusual, Schwarzriesling (German synonym for P. Meunier) from the Rheinhessen back country a while back. Perhaps mildly rustic, but ameliorated by a light demi-sec format. An interesting quaff, but nothing to seek out for a cellar. Can’t remember the producer. Not among the areas stars.
Many fine traditional wines of long standing can include PN in the blends. Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, Dole, Cote du Jura, Val d’Aosta rouges. Geographic theme seems to be the western Alps and nearby regions. I suspect that similar traditions exist at the eastern end in the Tyrol, Styria and western Hungary (need to refresh my research). Flexibility is one of the advantages of being an uber-grape, I suppose.
I had an experimental Pinot Meunier from Niagara once. It was only slightly lighter than the Pinot Noir from the same grower, same vintage. To echo others’ comments, there was noticeably less fruit and considerably more acid than the corresponding same-vintage Pinot Noir. What did surprise me, however, was how perfumed it was - quite open and floral … which made the tartness a bit of a shock.
Domaine Chandon has produced a still wine from Pinot Meunier, and I recall enjoying the 2 vintages that were poured.
Gotta go 100% with Brent and Doug’s notes on this. I’ve had German, Austrian and even Canadian Pinot Meunier and I have the same feelings with it that Doug has. It actually makes a very decent wine but I don’t believe it will ever gain large popularity other than as a blending grape or for a few one-off wines because the things it does well (acidity, tannins) are already done better by other red varietals (ex: Cab Franc, Shiraz) and the things it doesn’t do well (fruit flavor) it is outdone by not only other reds but even its own cousin in the Pinot family (ex: Cab Sauv, Shiraz, Merlot, Pinot Noir).
This said, by all means add a few bottles to your collection. Variety is the spice of life and a wine cellar. Definitely good to try a couple but I agree it won’t make up a large portion of a serious wine collector’s collection.
La Follette makes a PM from Van Der Kamp. I tried it a few weekends ago at their new Barlow tasting room and thought it was a great representation.
I definitely second the observations about earthy/mushroomy/sous bois aromas as well. Another thing to check out is Mondeuse. It’s darker and more peppery vs. Pinot Meunier but light enough in body to be blendable.
Jim Clendenon has used it in a blend with his Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir, at the beginning for fun I think but at one point it became a necessity to keep his production up to a certain level because the Pinot Noir harvests were so low. There are some notes on older wines in Cellartracker, but I think current production has some blended in even if it’s not labeled as such. Jim or someone from the winery would obviously be able to say for certain.
Pinot Noir from the northeast does not get enough sun to achieve good ripeness, IMHO, and though I can’t necessarily explain why the PM would taste fruitier assuming they were harvested at similar ripeness levels, it doesn’t surprise me at all that you found a Niagra PN to be thin and acidic.
Garagiste has been selling the Clos Saint-Fiacre Orléans for around $12 that is a mix of pinot meunier and pinot noir that’s pretty decent. I’ve had the 2009 and 2011 and liked them both.
This German example is not rustic. There was something about it dissimilar from pinot noir but I cannot put the differences into words.
2009 Weingut Darting Pinot Meunier Trocken - Germany, Pfalz (5/7/2013)
WOW! Everything about this wine is awesome. A beautiful ruby color. An abundant nose of ripe cherry, spice, and well-integrated oak - smells like it’s from California! A ripe red-fruited attack that transitions effortlessly into the mid-palate, and a long spicy, complex finish punctuated by tannins gently nipping. (93 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Eyrie Vineyards was the first in the New World to make Pinot Meunier. I’ve had a number of older vintages at the winery, which convinced me to pick a few bottles every year that it’s available (most of it goes to their wine club). I’d agree with the descriptions as being kind of a “wild” version of Pinot, but I think it tends, like Gamay, to become more Pinot Noir-like with age.