Which of the two major US regions does Pinto Noir Best?

WINE TALK
21

Not a fan of his riesling…tastes too much like apple juice.

22

Then clearly you have only tasted the mass produced swill coming from the great state of Oregon…

23

Interesting idea for a poll - but as others have said, it is just way too broad to categorize IMHO. There are ‘leaner’ CA pinots and ‘riper’ OR pinots. And shouldn’t this depend upon age of wine, what food you are pairing with it, etc?

Rabbit hole hear we come . . . :slight_smile:

24

I can certainly grant this as a possibility as the LCBO has horrible buying tastes. If I am ever to touch a true high ender from Oregon it will have to be one that somebody else brings at an offline. FYI that is exactly how I discovered Littorai, Kutch and Siduri. The rest I found at wine shows or LCBO tasting bars.

25

You chumps are all wrong. Freida does the best Pinto Noir (& Blanc)…
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26

My opinion of what six subregions will be considered the best places for Pinot in California, ten years from now, once enough wine has come from them all.

  1. “Deep End” Anderson Valley
  2. Freestone
  3. Santa Rita Hills (Western Corridor off Santa Rosa Rd)
  4. Santa Cruz Mtns
  5. Occidental
  6. Fort Ross
27

I just checked my cellar in CT and found I have much more Pinot Noir from Williams Selyem [especially 97` and older] and Au Bon Climat [and related labels] than all other PN from CA and OR combined; therefore, this was an easy answer fro me.

28

Not to worry Craig. I read right through it and accepted Pinot Noir as what was posted. Only after reading the Ford Pinto post did I get it and then it took a while.

29

Roy, what wineries might you cite as examples from some of these six?

Thanks.

30

If I owned a Pinto, I would not want a black one… why have a car susceptible to fires in the color that absorbs the most heat? Drive a black Pinto through Death Valley and you might learn all you will ever need to know about spontaneous combustion.

Dan Kravitz

31

This just goes to illustrate why Pinot Noir can be a life long journey to find those that float your boat. [cheers.gif]

32

My perception is that WB talks Oregon, but drinks California. Anytime you ask this question, most of your answers are going to be stridently pro Oregon, but most of our cellars and drinking are California. By a wide margin.

That isn’t to say that specific individuals don’t prefer Oregon or mostly drink Oregon. It’s just a comment on how the threads will read versus what is mostly happening.

33

Thread drift alert: one of my friends owned a Pinto back in the day and always wanted to get a personalized license plate “KABOOM”. Being a broke college student it never happened.

Flawed poll. Too many great Pinots over the years from all over to pick just two.

34

I think Oregon has more potential to make Burgundian style cold climate wine, which is what I go for. That said, I currently have more from California in my basement than Oregon (Rhys, Arcadian, and Anthill). Still trying to find good producers in all of Oregon’s AVA’s. Just bought some 2015 Evesham Wood La Grive Bleue for $25.00 a bottle.

35

Lots of great (and not so great) wines from each state. I’m really at a producer level rather than a state level these days.

I will say that I prefer the stereotypical OR style to the stereotypical CA style. But that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

36

+1 - seems like a more sensible poll would be “what style of Pinot Noir do you prefer - leaner or riper?” Because, really, “best” is going to reflect which style you like and where you’re more likely to find that.

37

This is probably correct. A quick check online told me that CA produced 253K tons of pinot noir grapes in 2016 and Oregon crushed over 45K in 2014. The Oregon stuff is probably more likely to be boutique than the CA swill (just kidding), and thus more in line with Berserker’s cellars, but that’s still a big difference in production. So by volume alone I’d guess there’s more CA pinot in Berserker’s cellars even discounting a chunk of those 253K tons as supermarket swill.

There has been a pretty vocal group of Oregon pinot drinkers on this board, and several well-known winemakers from OR who participate regularly (and even sell us great wine with Berserker labels – thanks Jim!!), so I think that may contribute to this board seeming more Oregon-centric.

38

I just joined, just moved to Philadelphia, and am interested in finding people in the area or tastings and wine dinners.

Have to say Oregon. Have very few domestic wines and also Australian wines due to the warm climate and high alcohol. Oregon PNs are an exception and are enjoyed by many friends.

39

Is this the Dark Horse poll?

40

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