A date with a French, a Chilean and a California Pinot Noir

        

  I have to admit that while I am writing this, the tasting was two days ago and I am going off of memory and the notes that my friend and I took while tasting the Pinot Noirs, and I am drinking an Australian Chardonnay, which actually isn't too bad.  My friend Lise came over and we tried 3 different Pinot Noirs.  The first a 2014 Bourgogne, France Pinot Noir, the second a Chilian Pinot Noir- PepperwoodGrove that did not state a vintage, and the third a 2013 Californian Pinot Noir, no appellation stated, from the Save Me San Francisco Winery.  We did taste test with a small taster glass, the kind you would get at a wine festival, and then a Pinot Noir glass, one at a time.  At the end of tasting all three, we then tasted all three again in high ball glasses as they were they only 3 glasses I had that were the same.  The highball glasses did not seem to make a big difference, but it still confirmed our first findings.  We also had chicken salad, peppered salami, grapes, raspberries, Gouda and Brie.
      Wine #1- 2014 Ropiteau Bourgogne, France Pinot Noir.  I don't know the cost as this was a gift from a friend, the alcohol stated it was 11-14%, which I thought was funny, but you know the French.  Lise and I both agreed the color depth was watery, clarity clear, garnet in color and the aroma intensity low, although with the small taster glass we both smelled a slight sweet berry, and with the Pinot Noir glass it smelled much earthier, mossy, wet forest, and mushroom.  The wine was medium sweet, very light bodied, tart note at the beginning, low tannin, we thought it was unbalanced especially in the smaller glass as the tartness really came through.  In the larger glass, it was less tart but still had a mild rhubarb taste to it.  The finish was very short.  We paired it with a raspberry and it evened out the tartness, not good with the Brie.  I gave it a 1 star, she gave it a 1.5 star, we both agreed it would not be something we would buy to drink, and maybe even resort to drinking Lonestar Light if those were the only two choices at a party.  If you enjoy tart Pinot Noirs this is a wine for you and it would pair quite nicely with tart fruit dessert.
     Wine#2- Non Vintage PepperwoodGrove from Valle Central, Chile.  This was on sale at World Market for $6.99, plus if you buy 4 or wines you get 10% off, so I thought I would try it.  I have never heard of Chilean Pinot Noir.  The alcohol content was 13%.  The color depth again was watery, color was more ruby and clarity clear.  In the smaller glass the aroma was low, we tried for awhile to figure out what it smelled like and finally came up with a Shirley Temple, Lise commented also that it smelled like a yellow cherry, which I have never had, so could not concur.  In the Pinot glass we enjoyed a more floral smell, almost rose petals.  Again we both agreed it was medium sweet, light, smooth, low tannin, the balance was fair and flavor intensity was low in the smaller glass, but moderate in the Pinot glass.  We paired it with the chicken salad which it seemed to enhance the flavor of the chicken salad.  It was interesting as in the smaller glass it absolutely did not go with the Brie or Gouda, but in the Pinot glass it was ok with the Gouda, and it also made the pepper salami much spicier!  We agreed that it would enhance a red sauce meal such as spagetti, if you had a Pinot glass. If it was at a party, we would drink it or if we were binging out on Sex and The City and we just wanted to spend $8.00 on a wine.  I gave it a 4 star, and Lise gave it 4.5 (out of 5)
     Wine #3- 2013 California Pinot Noir from the Save Me San Francisco winery- no appellation stated.  This was part of the 4 bottles I bought at World Market and it was $7.99.  The alcohol content was 13.5%.  While tasting this we did put on some Train to listen to, but it didn't really help the wine.  The color was a medium hue, garnet color and clarity clear.  The aroma was moderate, smelling to me of cinnamon and peppermint, Lise commented that it smelled like a cinnamon gummy bear.  It was off dry, with a medium body, more crisp than tart and again low tannin, with a fair balance and low flavor intensity.  We agreed that it made the food flavors stronger, although while I was sipping, I did get a wet dog note.  I noticed with the peppered salami it was almost like I was drinking colored water, all taste of the wine was gone.  It was not as bad as the French Pinot Noir, but we both agreed it was not something we would buy again.  She gave it 2 stars and I gave it 1.5 stars.
     All of the wines had a very short finish. Lise did ask me during the tastings what "tannin" meant so I opened up a Merlot that a medium tannin to it so she could understand.  It was hard for us to go back to the Pinot Noir.  We also decided on our next Pinot Noir tasting, we will taste the Chilean Pinot Noir again, because we don't know if we liked it because we really didn't like the other two or if it actually was a drinkable wine for us.  Alas, the journey continues for the Perfect Pinot Noir for me!

Pinot Noir #2- 2014 Muir Wood- a gift

    

 This Pinot Noir was a parting gift from a good friend in Grapevine Texas.  She knew I was starting on this journey and wanted to get me kick started with a couple of Pinots.  She went to her local liquor store and started asking questions, the associate immediately took her to a Pinot that we had both tasted while I was in Grapevine, and she told the associate that it was awful, and they should not be trying to push it (I love her honest candor!).  She chose this one and a Pinot from France which I am looking forward to trying.  I was in a much better mood today, having a very soulful, productive afternoon, it is kinda of misting outside and cool, well as cool as it can be in San Antonio, Texas on May 9th, with relative humidity at 92%.  Gotta love San Antonio weather.  Anyway, back to the wine.  I wanted to do this one "right", or as least right for me, so I took out 3 different types of wine glasses, a small "taster" that was bought for me by Bingham wine club members because it had a horse on it, my "Princess" dollar store wine glass from when I was wine club member at "Wine 101" in Bulverde, and my Pinot Noir glass I bought from World Market.  I can honestly say, the smell and tastes were different with the glasses.  The color depth was watery, with a ruby hue, and slightly hazy clarity.
     The aroma intensity varied by the glass it was in.  In glass #1, which was the small taster, it had an aroma of fresh cut wood,  Glass #2, the dollar store glass- a cedar aroma, and in glass #3-the Pinot glass, all I could smell at first was the alcohol.  The body is very light, acidity tart, tannin level low and balance was fair.  With glass #1, there was a medium tartness, and a taste of black cherry.  Glass #2 was less tart and more fruit forward, with glass #3, no tartness and maraschino cherry in taste.            There is definitely a nicer balance with the Pinot Noir glass.  I tried it with a fresh strawberry from my strawberry plant and was pleasantly surprised how I liked it, so I am thinking strawberry shortcake would be a good match for this.  I also liked it with hummus.  It gave the hummus a little bit more flavor attitude and the hummus toned down some of the fruit of the wine.  With the right food pairing this would be a good wine  I also noticed as time went along, about an hour or so, the tartness definately toned down.  I am glad to have experienced this wine and am grateful for awesome friends such as Halli for introducing me to something new!  Would I drink it again?  Not likely, but then again, maybe after my 50th Pinot Noir, I will have learned to like them, or least appreciate their role!

The Journey Begins....

    

 I opened up a bottle of 2015 Robert Mondavi-Private Selection Pinot Noir yesterday afternoon.  It was a bottle I picked up for $9.99 at Target.  I thought, how bad could it be?  It wasn't.  I had spent the day driving from San Antonio to San Marcos to pick up a truck part for my husband's truck and then driving to Stonewall to where the truck was and then back to San Antonio with a few other errands before returning home in late afternoon.  I was bored, but I wasn't in the most pleasant mood as most of my friends know how much I love to drive...(insert sarcasm).  I didn't want to open a bottle of one of the gift Pinots I had received, so I decided on the Robert Mondavi.  For $9.99, I would drink it again, not that I would buy it, but I would drink it if was at a party and there was nothing else to my liking.  According to my "notes", It had a medium color depth, garnet in color and clear clarity.  The aroma intensity was very low, I could at first smell the alcohol, (which was only 13.5%), and then maybe wax crayons, which is a pleasant smell to me.  Not sure if it is a good smell for Pinot Noirs.  The body was very light with a fresh, tart taste, low tannin and a very mild flavor intensity.  The ending was very quick.  It did not pair well with the Ruffles I was eating, so I switched to lightly salted tortilla chips, which was better.  It did not pair well with the turkey pepperoni either, so I would say salty foods are out.  It was non descript with the jalapeno hot dog with relish, spicy mustard and ketchup.  (When did they get rid of catsup and change it all to ketchup?).
    So, my take on this wine, is it is very light, too drinkable for me as I found I had drank 3/4 of the bottle by the end of the night, although because it was light in alcohol, it didn't seem to hit me hard.  I did sleep well.  I would drink it again, but not buy it again, unless I knew I was going to a party where the majority of the people there were not "big red" drinkers.  Finding the perfect Pinot Noir may be a harder journey than I first thought, but I will persevere.

A Pinot Noir Summer 2017

         

     Let me first state the fact that I am, at this time, not a big fan of Pinot Noir.  My first introduction to Pinot Noirs was about 4 years ago at a TexSom conference in Dallas, Texas where I tried 8 different Pinots and I couldn't stand any of them.  So of course, I have shied away from them.  That is until recently.  I am a Cab Sav, Merlot, Malbac, Tempranillo kind of girl, preferring substance, spice and lots and lots of oak.  I have been in the Texas wine industry since 2009, well, actually I started back in 1993, but there were not that many Texas wines then, and if there were, not that many that were good.  The Texas wine industry has subsequently grown up and is doing a fabulous job on making really good wines these days, not to say there are not some out there that are not so good, but for the most part, they are.  Subsequently, I have been drinking a lot of Texas wines.  Pinot Noirs are not an easy grape to grow in Texas, although, there are a few Texas vineyards growing them, but for the most part, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian varietals tend to do a little better.  

    So why am I doing this?  (when I told my mother I was on this journey, she was like, "Why would you put yourself through that?")  My answer is that while working at Bingham Family Vineyards tasting room in Grapevine, Texas, we had a lot of customers walk through the door asking for Pinot Noirs.  I would laugh and say, "Well, we don't have one, even though The Binghams have over 200 acres of grapes they grow, Pinot Noir is not one of them" and then I would let them try the Turnrow, which was an unoaked blend of Tempranillo and Mourvèdre, to which they would then answer, "This is perfect!"  To be honest, Turnrow was not my favorite, because again, it lacked substance, although it did pair deliciously well with a King cake I made for Mardi Gras.  So, I am on this journey to find out what the big deal is about Pinot Noirs.  And although I haven't officially started my journey, I have had around 6 in the last couple of weeks, ordering them at restaurants, which I figure would be the cheapest and easiest way to taste as many as possible.  Not that I think that most restaurants would carry the top notch Pinots, (well at least the ones I go to!) but they will carry what people want to drink or else it will not sell.  

     I have done a little research on Pinot Noirs on the web, trying to figure what they are supposed to taste, smell, look like.  I've had several "wino" friends give me suggestions to try and I have bought a "Pinot Noir" glass to taste them in.  Per the Wine Enthusiast- "The Pinot Noir/Burgundy stems are not quite as tall as the Bordeaux glass but will have a much wider bowl and sometimes will tulip towards the rim.  The glasses enhance red wines with high acidity and moderate tannin by directing the wine to the top of the tongue, highlighting the fruit and balancing the naturally high acidity.”  Meaning to me, Pinot Noirs do not have a huge bouquet and are soft.

     Words that have described Pinot Noirs are: female, sensitive, fragile, delicate, fruitiness, finesse, light body, see through red color, berry aromas.  Also, mushroom, truffle, sweet wood, cedar, rosemary, caraway, rhubarb, oregano, green tea, plus many more.  My taste testing will not be a scientific analysis, but more preference in my taste.  As in all tastings, it has a lot to do with the flavors you enjoy and the food you eat the most.  I am a black pepper, espresso, big rib-eye girl, so I like big, bold, heavy, but again, as I continue to age (like a fine bottle of wine!), I feel the need to start eating a little lighter fare, so this may be just the perfect journey for me.  So here we go, I hope you enjoy our summer together, and who knows, I might just find the perfect Pinot Noir, for me that is.  Now I am off to drink a nice French blend of Cab Sav, Merlot, Petit Verdot given to me by a sweet friend.